Identity II: Standby Phase
by MyAibou
Summary: Post canon. While the gang tries to find a way to save Atem's and Seto's souls, Yugi and Mai each face a more internal battle, and Kaiba meets someone familiar.
1. The Guardians

**IDENTITY**

**Disclaimer:** If I owned _Yu-gi-oh!_ and its characters instead of Kazuki Takahashi, would I be posting this for free online? No. I'd be out on a trip around the world spending my royalty checks.

**Rating:** T for language, suggestive content, mild violence (of the battling-cartoon-monsters variety).

**Pairings and Warnings:** Yugi x Téa (x Atem). Kaiba x Kisara. Joey x Mai. Tristan x Serenity. Some Bakura x Marik (_shonen ai_ mostly; nothing very graphic.) Puzzleshippy stuff if you squint really hard. And yeah, I use the dub names. It's how I got to know and love these characters. But the continuity pulls from the dub, the sub, and the manga and exists in the same universe as all my other YGO stories. Sequel to the _Revival_ series.

**Acknowledgements: **In addition to the people who directly helped me with this fic, I also want to acknowledge the other writers who have influenced me.

**Scribbler** writes absolutely gorgeous imagery, not to mention _the _definitive Anzu. My Téa is greatly influenced by her.

My take on the Yami/Yugi relationship is largely due to **LeDiz**. Her characterizations of the two of them and the depth of their bond completely blow me away. Any Puzzleshipping leanings I have are entirely her fault.

**Ginef**'s _Pirates of the Caribbean_ stories have some of the most amazing sensory imagery ever. Her writing makes my mouth water and reminds me that the little touches add so much.

Thank you, ladies, for setting the bar very high, and for challenging me to always look for ways to improve my own writing.

Ginef and Scribs also deserve belated thanks for their help with various British-isms. I should've thanked them in Part I and forgot. Mea culpa! The pub description is all Ginef, and she and Scribs both were very gracious in answering the occasional "how would you say this?" question or ten I shot at them. Anything that's set in England or that Sara or Bakura says that doesn't read like an ignorant American who's read too much Harry Potter wrote it, it's thanks to them. Anything that does read that way is because I got lazy and didn't ask them first. You guys are the best!

* * *

**Part II**  
**Standby Phase******

_On standby__: in a state of readiness to act, respond, or be used immediately when needed._  
—Dictionary dot com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 

* * *

**1. The Guardians**

The flight from Egypt back to the United States was a convoluted, twenty-five-hour ordeal that involved four different countries, three different airlines, and a two-hour wait in customs upon their arrival in San Francisco. By the time Yugi, Téa, Joey, and Tristan finally made it back to their penthouse in Illusion Towers with their guest, Sara Drake, in tow, it was nearly midnight. Mai, Serenity, and Duke were waiting for them in the common room when they got off the elevator, but the reunion was awkward, no one quite sure whether to greet Yugi enthusiastically or like a mourner at a wake.

After quick introductions to Sara, they exchanged brief summaries, first of the tournament—Kaiba had won, and Mai and Rebecca had taken second and third respectively, with Valon rounding out the top four—and then of Egypt, Yugi sketching in brief the research they'd be doing to try and find a ritual that would bring Atem and Seto back from the Shadow Realm. As soon as they'd finished, Mai and Joey disappeared upstairs to Mai's apartment, and Yugi enlisted Tristan and Duke's help in hauling the two cases of texts they'd brought with them on the plane up to the library, leaving Téa and Serenity to show a wide-eyed Sara around the penthouse.

Illusions Tower was a forty-story glass and steel office building owned by Industrial Illusions. Its founder being something of an eccentric recluse who liked to make appearances only when he could maximize the dramatic effect, Industrial Illusions' main headquarters was a sort of fortress of solitude well outside of the city in the northern part of Marin County. The marketing division of the company, however, required more interaction with the general public; hence the Illusions Tower building right in the middle of downtown San Francisco. The top two floors of the building housed the offices and apartments of Pegasus's Elite Duelist team.

The tour began in the common room. Set up a little like a ridiculously upscale college dormitory, the thirty-ninth floor was accessible only by keycard, and the elevator opened onto a lavish lounge with several full-sized arcade games and two separate seating areas. Nearest to the elevator was a semi-circular sectional sofa around a low glass coffee table; this is where they'd conferred about the tournament and Egypt when they'd first arrived. Towards the far end of the room was a cluster of armchairs and another sofa grouped around a plasma screen television mounted on the wall. An elaborate entertainment cabinet below the television held a DVD player/VCR combo, a hi-fi stereo system, and just about every video game platform known to mankind. Téa explained the elaborate setup to Sara. "Besides doing Duel Monsters promotions and tournaments, we do a lot of video game beta-testing. Yugi in particular can find a bug in any game in about three minutes flat."

Sara shook her head. "It's hard for me to reconcile this game stuff with all I've been hearing about his expertise on ancient Egypt. It's so… non-academic."

"He's loved games his whole life. The Egyptian stuff is fairly recent."

The eastern wall of the room was all windows, with a glass door that opened out onto a long balcony that spanned the entire length of the building. The other walls were decorated with eight framed enlargements of Duel Monsters cards. The size of movie posters, each one depicted their special guardian monsters, the same figures that Pegasus had had made into pendants for each of them for Christmas. After Sara's explanation of her love of dragons back in Luxor, Téa was not surprised when she spent some time admiring the Red-Eyes Black Dragon print, but was a little taken aback by her reaction to the Dark Magician.

"Who is that?" She sounded almost startled as she examined the print.

"That's Dark Magician, Yugi's signature monster."

"I've seen him before! But—" She stopped, shaking her head. "I don't play the game. How could I have?"

Téa and Serenity exchanged looks, and Serenity shrugged. "It's a pretty well-known card. He's in a lot of the promotional posters and stuff. You probably have seen him and just didn't realize he was from Duel Monsters."

Sara kept looking at the large portrait. "Yes, I suppose that must be it." She looked around at the other prints. "Actually, these all look rather familiar. A bit odd, that; I swear I've never so much as looked through Professor Julius's cards."

Téa wondered again about how Sara seemed vaguely familiar as she tried to feel her way around the strange subject of the connection between ancient Egypt and Duel Monsters. "If Professor Julius is a duelist, he must know that Pegasus based the game on Egyptian carvings. You know that carving you mentioned back in Luxor, the one with the pharaoh that looks a little like Yugi?"

Sara gave her an odd look, frowning slightly, but she nodded.

"Dark Magician is based on the wizard in that carving."

Sara's eyes widened. "Really?" She looked at Dark Magician again. "I understand Professor Hawkins theorizes that the Egyptians actually played a game similar to the modern game Pegasus created. Naturally, Professor Julius thinks it's romantic rubbish."

Neither Téa nor Serenity said anything.

"But if the cards are based on Egyptian carvings, that must be why they seem so familiar. Tell me a little about them all, will you?"

"Sure." Téa motioned around the walls to all the portraits. "There are eight cards displayed here. Each of the seven of us who live here have a Duel Monster we sort of connect with. The eighth poster is Duke's special card. He promotes his own game licensed through Industrial Illusions."

"Duke is the bloke with the black hair and the dice earring, right?"

"That's the one. You've already seen Yugi's and Joey's favorites. Mine is Dark Magician Girl. She's the Dark Magician's apprentice." Téa pointed out the pretty blue-eyed blonde in the turquoise and pink dress next to Dark Magician, then they moved past the portrait of Joey's Red-Eyes to a blue-skinned woman with long blonde hair. Unlike the other prints, which were all gold-bordered monster cards, this one had a magenta border, indicating it was a trap card.

Serenity stepped up beside Sara. "That's Gift of the Mystical Elf, my card. She's a healer, and I'm a medic and a pre-med student."

"Harpie Lady over here is Mai's monster. Stunning but deadly." Téa pointed first to a pink-haired woman with wings on her back and long green talons for fingers, then indicated the warrior with serrated armor and a flowing cape in the next portrait. "Command Knight is Tristan's. He's a great support monster who gives other warrior types on his side of the field additional attack points."

"I'll take your word for it."

Sara's sheepish grin reminded Téa that she knew nothing whatsoever about the game. It had been a long time since Téa had met someone who didn't at least know the basic rules for Duel Monsters, other than the girls Duke picked up and brought around, so she wasn't used to having to explain terms like attack points. "He makes other monsters stronger." She showed Sara the last two portraits. "Fire Princess is Rebecca Hawkins' monster."

"The professor's granddaughter?"

"That's right."

Sara studied the somewhat waif-like girl in flowing, fiery orange robes. "She doesn't look quite as formidable as that Harpie Lady."

"Not in sheer strength, no, but under the right conditions, she can bypass an opponent's monsters and attack a player directly. And that big hulking guy over there, that's Orgoth the Relentless, Duke's monster."

Serenity rocked back and forth on her heels, a wide grin on her face. "And there you have your first Duel Monster's tutorial. Aren't you sorry you asked? Don't worry, though. As stupid as it all sounds now, it'll infect you, just watch. Hanging out with these guys does that to you."

"But neither of you play?" Sara asked.

"Téa does. She's better than she lets on."

"So _not_."

"So _are_. I'm still learning, though. Tristan doesn't play either; he just doesn't like role-playing games all that much. Duke plays a little, but mostly he concentrates on his own game, which is based off Duel Monsters, called Dungeon Dice Monsters. Yugi, Joey, Mai, and Rebecca are the real duelists, though."

"What are your jobs, then, if you don't play the game?"

"I'm like an administrative assistant," Téa said. "I coordinate between Pegasus and the duelists, book travel arrangements, help schedule promotional events and tournaments, that sort of thing. Serenity is our medic, and Tristan handles security. Duke isn't really an employee; he has his own company that licenses through Industrial Illusions, but he's a close friend of ours and travels with us to most events. He doesn't actually live here, but he's over here enough he might as well. Sometimes he crashes at Tristan's."

Serenity put a hand on Sara's shoulder. "So, ready to go out and buy yourself a deck now?"

"I don't think so. It's all rather confusing. But they do look familiar." Then she winked at Téa and Serenity. "So show me the rest of this squalid little flat you poor souls are forced to endure."

"Yes, come feel our pain." Téa laughed as she and Serenity led Sara to the kitchen and dining room off of the common room. "We each have kitchenettes in our own apartments, but we usually eat together down here."

Serenity rolled her eyes. "Mostly take-out, although Téa or Tristan cook occasionally, and Joey makes Japanese curry a lot and can do some pretty amazing things with ramen. And we all pitched in on Thanksgiving. It was the first American Thanksgiving for most of us, at least since we were really little."

At the north end of the common room, opposite the elevator, was a circular staircase that wound up to the fortieth floor above. Behind the staircase, a hallway led back into their workspaces, including a huge empty room where they could duel each other for practice using their Duel Disks. The room also had a mirror and a barre so Téa could use it to dance when no one was dueling. Even though she wasn't currently taking classes or in a show, she wanted to stay limber and keep her skills up. Beyond the practice room was a conference room, several small offices, and a storage room that served as one of Pegasus's many card vaults.

Téa and Serenity then led Sara back into the common room and up the stairs. At the top of the landing was another small seating area with a loveseat, two chairs, and a coffee table. Across from the stairs was a set of double doors that led to the library where Yugi, Tristan, and Duke were currently unpacking the scrolls they had brought back with them. Two hallways branched off from either side of the landing.

"Up here are the library and our apartments." Téa motioned to two hallways. "The duelists all have apartments on the east side. Serenity, Tristan and I have apartments on the west." They started down the hallway toward the west. "You can stay in my room. I'll sleep on the couch."

Sara put up her hands and shook her head. "Oh, I don't want to put you out. I'll take the couch."

"Don't be silly, you're not putting me out at all." She was about to add that she often stayed with Yugi anyway, then thought better of it. No chance of that, given Yugi's current mood. Pushing that thought from her mind, she forced a smile onto her face as they reached her door, the one closest to the stairs. She pointed down the hall past the other two apartments. "The elevator comes up to this floor, too, down at the other end of the hall, so you don't have to come in through the common room. We'll get you a guest key to use to get up to these floors."

"It's really very kind of you to invite me to stay here with you."

"It only makes sense since you're helping us research rituals." She put her keycard in the door and opened it, then stopped and faced Sara. "We really appreciate this, Sara. _I _really appreciate this. You don't know what it means to us."

Sara cocked her head. "I suppose I don't. And yet, I feel as if I do understand." She laughed at herself. "That makes no sense, I know."

Téa wondered again exactly who this girl was and what her connection was to everything. A part of her worried about the wisdom of allowing this virtual stranger—the one who had just happened to find the desecrated tombs—access to their library and living quarters, but if she was connected to Ramesses, maybe having her close at hand was better than having her loose in Egypt. It seemed like there wasn't a whole lot more damage to be done there, but still, it suddenly felt as if Atem were more vulnerable than any of the rest of them. It was a concept that didn't sit well with Téa. But screwing back on her plastic cheerleader smile, she told Sara, "Thus concludes our tour."

Sara smiled and clapped politely. "Well done! I'm thoroughly impressed. If I'd have known what luxury awaited the champions of this game, I would've taken up Professor Julius on his offer and learned to play straight away."

"It is a pretty sweet setup." Téa held the door all the way opened and motioned for Sara to enter. "Why don't you go on in and make yourself comfortable while Serenity and I go down and bring up the bags?"

"Oh, I can do it. I don't want to be any bother."

"No, seriously, it's no trouble. Make yourself at home. We'll just be a minute." When Sara finally relented and entered Téa's apartment, Téa closed the door behind her, then took Serenity's arm and led her down the hall toward the elevator. "What's your sense of her? Anything weird?"

Serenity eyed her curiously. "Like Shadow Realm weird?"

Téa shrugged. "I guess. I don't know. We all feel like we've met her somewhere, and she seems to have a really strong connection to Atem and Seto. We're not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Well, I don't get any shadowy vibes from her or anything. Why did you all bring her back if you don't trust her?"

"Have you ever known Yugi not to trust someone unless they gave him a reason not to? Besides, we need all the help we can get if we're gonna find a way to bring Atem back. And you saw her with the Dark Magician poster and all the other monsters, too. She's connected to all of this in some way. We just don't know how."

Serenity frowned. "Well, I think we'd better find out how."


	2. Isolated

**2. Isolated**

Joey buried his face in Mai's hair, which was slightly damp with sweat, as she curled up against his shoulder, her arms wrapped around him. He let the scent of her wash over him—that particular mix of floral shampoo, exotic perfume, and something indescribable that was uniquely _her_—and he finally felt like he was _home_. He breathed it in contentedly and hummed at the back of his throat, enjoying the feeling of being pleasantly sleepy instead of sick and drained.

She looked up at him. "Can I take that to mean you missed me?"

"Mmmm."

"You're not going to sleep on me already, are you? What about all that big talk about keeping me up all night?"

He nuzzled her hair. "Gimme a break here. I've been sick for three days."

"You were awfully energetic a few minutes ago." She stroked his chest, tracing patterns with her fingertip.

"Well, _yeah_. You have any idea how hot you are?" Fatigue notwithstanding, he was almost starting to get aroused again.

"Of course I do." She was starting to sound sleepy herself as she snuggled against him. "I'm glad you're back, Joey. Things are better when you're here." It crossed his mind to wonder what things were better, but then it was gone as he drifted into sleep.

The next thing he knew, he was being elbowed in the chest. His eyes flew open to see Mai flailing in her sleep, muttering incoherently. Alarmed, he raised himself up on his elbow and reached for her. "Mai, wake—"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Her eyes flying open as she sat up and shoved him away. "I WON'T DO IT!"

Biting down on his panic, Joey grabbed her shoulders firmly and shook her. "Mai! Wake up!"

She thrashed her head violently back and forth, her hair whipping around her and slapping against his face. "No no no no no…"

"MAI!" He gave her one more shake.

With a huge gasp of air as if she had been underwater for too long and was finally surfacing, she abruptly stopped. Her hair fell around her, partially masking her face as her eyes focused and she actually looked at him instead of through him. "Joey?"

"I'm here, Mai, it was just a nightmare." He pulled her into his arms, trying to will his heart to stop racing. "It's okay."

She clung to him, her face buried against his shoulder. "Oh, _shit_. I thought if you were here it would stop. It always used to _stop_ when you're here."

Joey froze, his heart squeezing in his chest. Pushing her back so he could look at her, he said, "What do you mean 'stop'? Something can only _stop_ if it's already _started_."

She didn't look at him, just hung her head, her wildly matted hair hanging like a curtain to shield her face.

"Mai? Have you been having nightmares again?" he asked, a little more firmly.

She looked up, pushing her hair back away from her face, then nodded.

"The same one, with the sand?"

"Yes… no, wait." Her brow furrowed. "Tonight was different. Before it would start in the hourglass with the sand, but then it would change into our duel. Only tonight there was no sand. Just the duel."

He didn't need to be told which duel she meant. "And when did all of this start up again?"

"The night you left London."

A string of swear words poured through Joey's mind, but he clenched his teeth against them. "And you were planning on telling me when?"

"I was going to tell you that night when you called, but you had just seen the tombs, and everything sounded so horrible down in Egypt, I didn't want to add to it, and I was hoping they'd just go away on their own. Then when they didn't, I was hoping you being home would stop them. The last time, on the island, just being with you stopped them. That whole 'touchstone' thing."

"Dammit, Mai, I need to know when something like this is going on! Tell me you at least told Serenity so she could… do whatever it is she can do now."

She sighed. "No, I didn't tell her, okay? It's bad enough to have to run to you to scare away the boogieman. I'm really not interested in running to your kid sister!"

He ground his teeth. "She's your friend, Mai, and she has that weird psychic sense with the Shadow Realm and _nobody_ hates that more than I do, but she can help with this stuff. No more isolating yourself, remember?"

"I know!" She was starting to sound testy. "I wasn't purposely not telling you, Joey, but I'm not a child who needs to be coddled, either. And I don't need you to make a bigger deal of it than it is. You only just got back and I just wanted to _be_ with you, not stop and have a chat!"

"A chat?" He gaped at her. "It is a big deal, Mai! And not just because of what it does to you when you have these nightmares, but because of what it means when it happens. Did it ever occur to you that this is connected to what happened to the Pharaoh's tomb?"

"I know, but you were in Egypt, so there wasn't a lot you could do about it, and you all had enough on your plate, okay? I wasn't going to add to that. And I was going to tell you when you came home, but there hasn't really been an opportunity yet. And stop scolding me like a child, Joey Wheeler! I can make these decisions for myself!"

Frustrated, he ran his hand over his hair, pulling it back away from his forehead for a moment before letting it go again. "You scared the shit out of me, Mai, okay? The last time this happened, Evan _did_ this to you with the Orichalcos—" He stopped short, his eyes narrowing in rage as a thought occurred to him. "Valon."

"No," she said firmly, taking hold of his shoulders. "Listen to me, Joey, I don't know why this started up again all of a sudden, but I don't think it was Valon."

"Why not?" he asked darkly.

"Because I tore apart his whole room looking for Orichalcos stones. He didn't have any."

Joey gaped at her again. "You tore— Jesus, Mai, what the hell else was going on in London that you aren't telling me?"

She sighed, exasperated. "I told you, I'm not _not_ telling you. There just hasn't been an opportunity yet because you had bigger fish to fry in Egypt. But here's the deal, okay?" And she told him about how she had immediately suspected Valon after the first dream and had gone to confront him, tearing apart his room and his personal belongings looking for Orichalcos stones.

Joey absorbed everything she said for a moment, then shook his head. "Just because you didn't find anything—"

"It's not just that, Joey. I… I know I'm not always the greatest judge of character or I wouldn't have gotten involved with those morons in the first place, but…." She shrugged. "I don't know, Joey, I thought it was him, I really did. I thought it when Yugi got hurt in the pub, and I thought it when I had the nightmare, but after talking with him, I don't think so anymore. He's no different from me, really; made some really astonishingly stupid choices and now is trying to put the pieces back together."

He thought about this for a moment, remembering his duel with Valon. He'd gotten the same impression, actually. "Okay." He blew his hair out of his eyes with a puff of air. "Okay. But if it isn't Valon, then it's something else, and the timing is too coincidental with the tomb desecrations. It's gotta be connected. We gotta tell the others."

"You don't think Yugi's dealing with enough right now?"

"This is _what we do_, Mai. You do remember that, don't you?"

"I know!" She put her hands on her hips, peevish again. "I signed up for this whole 'fight the good fight' thing, too, okay? But this isn't exactly easy for me. It's my own personal hell we're talking about."

The irritation drained from him as he remembered that this wasn't just a theoretical discussion. Not moments ago, she was actually having the nightmare and it was affecting her enough that she tossed him around in her sleep. "I'm sorry, Mai," he said quietly. "I hate this, I really do. I'd do anything to stop it."

"You usually do." She leaned her forehead against his. "On the island? They stopped when you were with me."

He closed his eyes. "Touchstones, yeah, I know. But I was right here tonight. Why was it so bad tonight?"

"I don't know."

"Was it this bad every night?" When she didn't answer right away, he leaned back and prompted her. "Mai?"

"It seems to get worse each night."

"Shit." He sucked in a breath, squeezing his eyes in frustration. Then he opened them again and looked at her, cupping her cheek with his hand. "No more. I swear to you, Mai, it stops here. We're gonna find out why this is happening and make sure it never happens again. You don't deserve to keep reliving this over and over, because what happened then is done. You aren't alone anymore, not ever." He leaned over and kissed her, closing his eyes once more as his lips softly met hers, willing every inch of himself into that kiss so that she would know, really _know_ once and for all, that she was not alone.

* * *

Téa woke up feeling restless and agitated. Beside her, Sara Drake was sound asleep—when they couldn't agree on who would take the couch, they'd settled on sharing Téa's king-sized bed. Téa looked at the clock and saw it hadn't even been two hours since she went to bed. Stifling a groan, she rolled over, trying to go back to sleep, but after a few minutes she was too twitchy for sleep to come, and if she started tossing and turning, she was going to wake Sara. Deciding some herbal tea might help, she slipped out of bed and headed for her little kitchen. When she got there, she found she was out of anything that didn't have caffeine in it. She thought she remembered a box of Chamomile tea in the common kitchen, so she left her apartment and padded down the hall toward the stairs.

When she got to the landing, she saw a light was still on in the library. Frowning, she ducked her head in to see Yugi sitting at the table hunched over a scroll.

"Yugi?" She stepped inside the library. "You're not gonna stay up all night, are you?"

He looked up, startled to see her. He was wearing reading glasses, which she loved. He looked somewhere between adorable and sexy in them, but she didn't say so because the former would make him scowl and the latter would embarrass him. He took off the glasses. "Oh, I didn't see you there." He sounded tired, his voice a little deeper than she was used to hearing outside of a duel.

She sat down in the chair diagonal to him and reached out to touch his arm. "I know you're anxious to find out how to get him back, Yugi. We all are. But you need to get some sleep."

"Well, I couldn't sleep, so I figured I might as well do something useful." His voice was a little stiff now, and he pulled his arm away. "But you can go back to bed."

She narrowed her eyes at the brush off and leaned back, folding her arms. "Yugi, don't shut everyone out. You can't do this alone."

"I know that; you don't have to keep telling me." He was glaring at her, uncharacteristically peevish. "I just couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd go through some of these scrolls to see what's here. Should I have woken up everyone else and made a party out of it?"

"Don't be stupid. And I'm not talking about just tonight. You haven't slept a wink since we left London, and ever since we saw those tombs, you've been pushing everyone away."

"That's not true." He put his glasses back on and looked down at the scroll of papyrus that was unrolled in front of him.

"Okay, then you've been pushing _me_ away."

She'd expected a denial. A sigh, an apology, an _of course I don't want to push you away_. Instead, he said nothing. He just kept looking down at the text in front of him.

She let out a breath in frustration. "Okay, so what? Is this like on the island where you were all worried about getting distracted by me? 'Cause I don't think that's really an issue, Yugi. We've been together for seven months now. Well, four months living in the same place anyway. We know how to be in the same room without falling all over each other. And we've been friends longer than we've been a couple. I want to _help_."

Still, he said nothing.

"Dammit, Yugi, _talk_ to me!"

He looked up at her, taking off his glasses once more and setting them down on top of the text. "What do you want me to say, Téa?"

"I don't know, 'I get that you want to be there for me and I'm not gonna shut you out anymore'?"

"I _do _get that you want to be there for me, but I need you to just _back off_, okay?"

She blinked. In all the years she'd known him, she couldn't remember him ever speaking like this to her. To _anyone_. "What is _with_ you?"

"What's with me? My other self is trapped in the Shadow Realm, Téa, and I don't know how to get him back!"

"What, I've been living under a rock the past five days? Do you think this means nothing to me, Yugi? That my heart isn't breaking, too? Do you think there isn't anything I wouldn't do to bring Atem back?"

His eyes narrowed at this—his game face. "That's exactly the problem, isn't it?"

She glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What will you do if we're both here?"

She remembered their conversation on the plane, and it hit her what was bothering him. "Yugi, I told you, that wouldn't change anything. I would never make you choose between him and me, you've got to know that. We'll figure it out, okay?"

"No, it's _not_ okay. And this isn't just about what I choose. You have a choice to make, too. You've managed to avoid making it for a while now, but it can't continue like this. You can't have it both ways, Téa."

Her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. "Can't have _what_ both ways?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

"I _know_ what you mean, but I don't _understand_. You're not completely separate, Yugi! Do you honestly expect me to sort out all the separate parts and say 'I love these, but not those'? Because I can't do it! You're… you! And… and… part of who you are is him, and I can't dissect that out of you and say I don't love that part. That's like giving me a coin and asking me to decide whether I want to spend the heads or the tails side. It's not possible. You either take it all or nothing, and I love it all. I love _you_."

"I think you love the _idea_ of me. All these contradictory characteristics that don't really fit together, but somehow got brought together anyway. But we're not the same. I—" He closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking very tired. "He made me something different than I was, but I'm not him. I am, to be completely honest, a fairly poor substitute, so I just want to make everything right again, to concentrate on making it all right, but you confuse everything because I… I don't know who to be with you."

She blinked again, this time fighting back tears. "That's not fair! I've never asked you to be anything other than what you are. If you recall, we even had this conversation two and a half years ago after you started having his memories, and I took a step back specifically so you could figure out what it meant for you. And so I could figure out how I felt, too, but mostly for you. For two years, Yugi. And I even told you then that everyone's entitled to an identity crisis when they're eighteen, and you more than most. And I suppose you're entitled to one when you're twenty, too. But you can't keep having the same identity crisis forever. Eventually you have to figure out who you want to be."

He slammed a hand down on the table making her jump. "What do you think I'm trying to do? But I can't do it with you, because you want to have it both ways." He grabbed the silver cartouche she'd given him for his birthday and held it out to her. "It's like this cartouche. The name says _Yugi_, but a cartouche belongs to the _Pharaoh_. You want to have both of us and convince yourself it's all only one person so you can avoid making a choice, but you can't avoid it anymore. You have to choose!"

She stared at him, not bothering anymore to try and keep her eyes from overflowing. "I can't do that. I can't love just part of you."

"And I—" He closed his eyes again. "I can't do _this_. I want it to be good enough just being Yugi."

"Yugi." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "How can you say… how can you even think…?" She swiped at her eyes again, more violently this time, hurting and angry all at the same time. "You once told me I _help_ you know who you are. When exactly did that change?"

"When I figured out that when you say you love me, I don't actually know who you mean."

"And that's somehow _my_ fault?"

He glared at her a moment, his eyes cold and angry. Then he looked down, picked up his glasses and put them back on. "I have work to do," he said through clenched teeth.

"Fine." She stood up so fast, she knocked over her chair. Leaving it where it lay, she turned on her heel and left the library, stopping to look back at him when she reached the door. "Believe me, Yugi, you're more Pharaoh than you know. And that's not always a good thing."

She turned again and left, but not quickly enough to miss the way he looked like she'd just punched him in the gut. She was just petty enough to take a small bit of satisfaction in that—she'd felt like she'd been punched in the gut since she walked into the library.

Somehow, she didn't think Chamomile tea was going to be enough to help her sleep now.


	3. Not All There

**3. Not All There**

Tristan groaned when he looked at the clock. Six o'clock. All of four hours after he went to bed, and it hadn't been a restful four hours, either. He knew there was no way he was going back to sleep no matter how tired he was. It was probably jetlag; it was four in the afternoon in Egypt.

With another groan, he rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom. After relieving himself and taking a quick shower, he went out into the living room where Duke was asleep on the couch. Or lying on the couch, anyway. He had his hands cupped behind his head and his eyes were open, staring at the ceiling.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Tristan asked.

"Nope. Haven't had a good night sleep since you all left for Egypt."

"Jetlag."

"Maybe."

"Well, I'm gonna go downstairs and start some coffee. Maybe make some breakfast, if there's any food in the kitchen."

"Are you kidding?" Duke grinned. "You know Serenity. The first thing she did when we landed was go to the grocery store."

"Dude, it is good sharing a house with women."

"For so very many reasons." Duke's dreamy smile turned into a scowl. "But don't rub it in. I still don't see where one more apartment here woulda killed Pegasus."

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Oh, quit harping on that."

"Why should I? We're talking one more apartment. Or hell, Joey should just give me his place. It's not like he's ever there."

Tristan rubbed the back of his head. "But then where would he escape to when he and Mai have a fight? Which is like every other day."

"_He_ could sleep on your couch."

"So either way, I end up with some slacker on my couch. Great."

"I resemble that remark." Duke sniffed, then sat up. "But hey, speaking of women, what do you think of Cady's friend, Paige?"

Tristan narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

"'Cause she's totally into you, dude. Talked about you a lot after you left London. She's gonna e-mail you, and she might even call you. She's got this super cheap calling card to the U.S. so she can call her dad. Hope you don't mind that I gave her the number here."

Tristan cocked his head, still wary. "So are you saying you're actually not gonna turn this into another competition?"

Duke sighed theatrically, his hand over his heart. "You wound me! No, I'm not gonna compete with you. She's not my type. Besides, she's Cady's best friend. Not that Cady and I are serious or anything," he hastened to add, "but still, I don't even wanna go there into that kind of ugly. So she's all yours. You like her, then?"

Tristan shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Definitely enjoyed talking to her that night at the pub."

Duke raised his eyebrows. "Do I hear a 'but' in there? You're not still hung up on Serenity, are you?"

"Nah, we're cool just being friends."

"But you wouldn't turn her down if she suddenly came onto you, would you?"

Tristan leaned back against the back of an easy chair and thought about it a moment. "Would you?"

Duke laughed. "Hell, I wouldn't turn down any hot girl who came onto me. Besides, it would be funny to watch Joey's head explode."

Tristan grimaced, remembering their altercation on the flight to London. "He's a mental case."

"So is Serenity why you're hedging, then?"

"No. I like Paige. I'd really like to get to know her better."

"Then what? The distance?"

"Well that, yeah." Tristan's hand went to the back of his head again, a habit whenever he was thinking about something, but then he brushed it off. "I dunno what it is. Guess it's just been a long time."

"Too long, my friend. Time to get back up on that horse and ride, if you know what I mean."

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like I'm gonna take relationship advice from someone who wears more eyeliner than his girlfriends."

"You're just jealous 'cause you couldn't pull it off." Duke smirked, flipping his hair for effect.

"Riiiiiight. It'd go over really well with my CO." He clapped his hands together. "Okay, I'm gonna go downstairs and start some coffee. We'll be needing it if we're all gonna spend the day poring over books on ancient Egyptian rituals."

Duke groaned. "I can hardly wait."

Tristan left his apartment and headed toward the stairs. As he passed by the library, he saw Yugi inside, already at work. No wait, scratch that. _Still_ at work—he was wearing the same clothes from last night. Tristan stood at the top of the landing, debating whether to go in and talk to him, then decided coffee and breakfast would be better.

Half an hour later, he was back at the library door, carrying a tray with coffee, rice, miso soup, some scrambled eggs, and sausage. "Hey there. I come bearing coffee. And breakfast. But mostly coffee."

Yugi looked up at him over his reading glasses, and Tristan was alarmed at how exhausted he looked. "Thanks, Tristan, but I'm not hungry."

"I know." Tristan balanced the tray with one arm while he pushed aside some of the papers to make room for it. "But you should eat anyway."

"Well, coffee maybe."

"You can't live on just coffee. Besides, caffeine will stunt your growth."

Not so much as a smirk or even an eye-roll in response. "I just wanna get through these scrolls before the stuff from Ishizu's library arrives today."

Tristan finally made enough space for the tray and set it down, then took the chair diagonal to Yugi, which for some reason was overturned. He righted it facing backwards, then sat astride it with his arms resting along its back. "Yugi, I know what happened was bad, and I know how important it is to find a way to get Atem back quickly, but I gotta tell you, man, you're not all here right now, okay? What? It's true," he said when Yugi gave him a slightly startled look. "And you need to be, because if anyone's gonna figure this out, it's you. But not by killing yourself."

Yugi sighed and took off his glasses. "You're right, Tristan. I know you're right. I just… I can't seem to keep all the pieces together."

Tristan nodded. "So I've noticed. It's not like you, Yugi. You're always the one who keeps a good outlook, no matter how bad things get. Even when Téa got hurt, you lost it for a little while, but you snapped back pretty fast, and that was in spite of being in a cave full of Orichalcos stones. How come this is so much harder?"

"I…" he started, then stopped shaking his head. "I don't know. I feel so… divided."

"From Atem?"

Yugi hesitated, then said slowly, "Something like that."

"You know what? You kinda remind me of how he was in California. After… well, you know. After he lost that Orichalcos duel and you…."

"After… he lost my soul, you mean." His voice was bitter and full of self-reproach.

"Yeah. He was kinda lost without you, too."

Yugi clenched his fist around his glasses. "I know. I remember."

"Yeah, I guess you do." Tristan sighed. "You know, you'd think after three years I'd be able to wrap my mind around how you two can be separate and the same all at the same time, but it still catches me off guard sometimes. I'll either be thinking of you as one person, like watching you duel, and remember that there were two of you, or else, like now, I'll be thinking of you as two separate people and remember that you weren't really all that separate."

"We're not the same. But I know what you mean." He looked at the food at Tristan's elbow and gave him a weary smile. "And you are right about the food. I should eat, and it does smell good. Is that miso soup?"

"That it is. And rice and eggs and sausage. East meets West, all in one breakfast."

"That can't all be for me. You're going to eat too, right?"

"There's more downstairs. This is for you."

Yugi looked like he was going to put up an argument, but he relented and Tristan slid the bowls and plate in front of him along with the coffee mug. Yugi took a sip of coffee and scooped up some rice with chopsticks.

"I take it you didn't sleep at all?" Tristan asked.

Yugi shook his head. "I did get a lot done, though. Went through a bunch of these scrolls we brought back with us and also found everything we already had here that might be useful." He nodded over to a stack of books on the floor by the bookshelves. "Most of Pegasus's books are in English or Japanese or, oddly, French. There are only a few of those, thank God. I'm hoping maybe Mai's French is good enough to go through them. Otherwise, they'll have to wait until Rebecca gets back. Then this stack," he indicated the scrolls on the table, "are all in Egyptian hieroglyphs or hieratic."

Tristan eyed the three piles near the bookshelves compared to the texts on the table. "Well, at least there are more English and Japanese books than Egyptian. Shouldn't take more than a couple of days to get through those with all six of us helping, and you and Sara could probably burn through this stuff in a few hours."

"You're forgetting the texts from Ishizu. They're almost all in Egyptian or Arabic. It will take weeks to get through them all, and we don't have weeks."

Tristan groaned. "Yeah, that's right. And the rest of us can't help with those."

"As much as I didn't want to suck anyone else into this stuff, I'm really grateful Sara volunteered to come help. I'd never get through all this alone. And when Rebecca and Professor Hawkins get back from Boston, they can help, too, but still. It's so much. And even with the Ishtars and Bakura doing that vigil every night to help sustain their souls in the Shadow Realm, we just don't have a lot of time."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and hit the right scroll right off the bat," Tristan said hopefully.

"Maybe." Yugi took a spoonful of miso soup and then tapped the spoon against the bowl, pensive. "We need more help, though. I'm gonna have to call Kaiba."

"That's right! I forgot he can read this stuff! But do you think he'll help? You know how he is."

Yugi shrugged. "Probably not. But I have to ask. I'll call him when it's a more decent hour."

"In the meantime, should I get everyone else up so we can get started?"

"No, let them sleep. Especially Joey. He needs to get rid of whatever bug he picked up in Egypt."

* * *

By the time Joey crawled out of bed, it was past ten o'clock and Mai was already gone. He took a very quick shower and then grabbed the cleanest jeans and shirt he could find—at least half his clothes were at Mai's, but most of them were dirty after their trip. He so needed to do some laundry.

He emerged from her apartment to find Tristan and Duke coming from the elevator lugging boxes of books and scrolls. Ishizu's texts had arrived.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty awakens," Duke said.

Tristan, panting under the strain of the heavy box, set it down, then straightened, stretching his back. "Yeah, figures, just as we're finishing bringing up the boxes."

Joey crossed his arms, defensive. "You coulda woken me up, you know."

"Aw, but you're so cute when you're sleeping." Tristan pinched his cheek like a visiting matron aunt.

"Stop that!" Joey jerked his head out of Tristan's reach, then shook a fist in his face. " I got your cute."

Duke put his own box down. "Stop fighting, girls. We've got work to do."

Joey gave his fist one final shake under Tristan's nose. "So what's the plan?"

Duke leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. "Well, now that the stuff from Egypt has arrived, Yugi and Sara are gonna go through that, and the rest of us are gonna go through the English and Japanese ones from Pegasus's library."

"And what exactly are we looking for?"

"Death rituals," Tristan said, "anything involving sending the _Akh_ to the afterlife, especially anything to do with grave desecrations."

"Death rituals and grave desecrations." Joey shuddered. "That's just great. Nothing like some light reading."

"Especially when you consider that the Egyptians were all about the death rituals." Duke rolled his eyes. "We're not exactly talking narrow range of topic here. Oh, and there are a bunch of gods and stuff to look for, too. Osiris, Ammit, Ma'at, Anubis… um, Nephthys."

"Can I just get the Cliff Notes version?"

"No doubt." Tristan huffed out a weary breath. "It's confusing. Yugi and Sara are gonna have to help us know exactly what to look for."

Joey grimaced. "Well, as fun as that sounds, I'm gonna need some food first. Is there anything to eat?"

"I made some eggs and stuff, but that was, like, four hours ago. You'll have to nuke it. Look in the fridge."

"Nuked eggs. Works for me. And where's Mai?"

"Downstairs. We brought all the non-Egyptian books downstairs into the common room. Mai's trying her hand at the French books Yugi found in Pegasus's library. Yugi and Sara are gonna work up here in the library on the Egyptian and Arabic stuff."

"Gotcha."

Joey went downstairs to find Serenity, Téa, and Mai each curled up in different spots on the semi-circular sofa around the coffee table, reading. Téa looked hunched and tense like she was ready to kill the first person who interrupted her, so he gave her wide berth as he walked into the sitting area. Serenity looked up from her book and gave him a smile, but Mai was absorbed in her reading and didn't seem to notice him. He went over behind her and kissed her on the neck. "Having fun?"

"Oh, just loads," she said dryly, looking up at him. "My French is good enough to order châteaubriand and escargots, and get directions around Paris. Maybe enough to read _Le Petit Prince_ without a French-English dictionary. But Egyptian scholarship in French? Let's just say it's not my forte."

He leaned over her shoulder, pretending to look at the foreign text. "How you doing?"

"I'm good."

He gave her a sideways look. On the surface, she seemed fine, but he knew her well enough now to see through her masks and, underneath, her eyes looked haggard. Haunted, even. "Yeah, right."

Before she could answer, he straightened up. They were going to have to talk to Yugi and Serenity at the very least, but not until he'd woken up properly and done some of his share of the work helping to get Atem out of the Shadow Realm. "Okay, I'm gonna get some chow, and then I'll grab a book and pitch in."

He ambled off to the kitchen in search of breakfast. He found some eggs and sausages—and was that miso soup?—in the fridge and heated it in the microwave, then brought the plate back out into the common room. Picking a seat on the sofa near Mai, he balanced the food on his lap and began eating, happy to feel hungry again for the first time in days.

From the top of the stairs, Tristan called down. "Okay, Joey, looks like it's your turn to lug a box." He indicated a box by the elevator.

"I thought you said you were finished," Joey said over a mouthful of eggs.

"Well, we were leaving that box to send over to Kaiba. Yugi was hoping to talk him into helping out with some of the Egyptian stuff, but he's not interested, so you get to take it up to the library."

"Kaiba doesn't wanna help—now there's a surprise." Joey rolled his eyes as he took a bite of sausage.

Téa, however, was not so resigned to Kaiba's refusal. Slamming her book down hard enough to make Joey jump and almost choke on his breakfast, she scoffed in disgust. "Oh _honestly! _Yet another_ stupid, pig-headed male _being a_ stupid, pig-headed idiot_."

"Hey!" Tristan stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Why do we all get lumped in with Kaiba?"

But there was no interrupting Téa on a rant. "Well, not this time. I'll go over there myself and get that bloated pompous ass to remember who he is and do the right thing for a change. Joey, grab that box and help me get it over there." She disappeared up the stairs, almost knocking Duke over as she blew by him, leaving the three men blinking at each other. Serenity and Mai, however, both stayed bent over their books, studiously ignoring the outburst.

"What brought _that_ on?" Duke asked after a moment of stunned silence, but before anyone could answer, Téa was back, storming down the stairs carrying her coat and her purse. She turned to Joey, her hands on her hips.

"Well? Are you gonna help me, or do I have to carry the box myself?"

"Can I at least finish my breakfast first?"

She gave him a murderous look, and he quickly set down his plate on the coffee table. "Okay, okay, I'm coming, keep your shirt on!" Then without waiting for him to even get up from his seat, she stomped over to the elevator and pushed the call button.

As Joey got up, Mai looked up at him. "Where are you going?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "To serve as Queen Téa's lackey, apparently."

"I heard that, Joey Wheeler!"

Mai gave him a quizzical look.

"Never mind, baby. Go back to your French," Joey said, shaking his head. _Women!_


	4. Terms of the Game

**4. Terms of the Game**

Seto Kaiba sat in the study of his penthouse atop of the Kaiba Corp U.S. headquarters in the Financial District of San Francisco. Although the main corporate offices were still in Domino, he and Mokuba spent most of their time in San Francisco these days. The Kaiba Land theme parks needed near constant attention, and his proximity to Industrial Illusions headquarters also made it easier to keep up with licensing issues and holographic technologies involved in gaming, particularly Duel Monsters. Normally, he'd work in his office a few floors down, but it was Sunday, the day after New Year's, and the place was just too dead. In his home, he had Mokuba in the next room playing some J-pop hits too loudly on his MP3 player, and the background noise actually made it easier for him to concentrate.

After returning from London the day before, he'd been focused on end-of-year reports and market analyses. Kaiba Corp had done well the previous year, but not as well as it could have, considering its near monopoly on holographic gaming technology. The Schroeder Corporation had been creeping up on them ever since that second-rate Zigfried Schroeder had talked Pegasus into signing a deal with them, although this year's first quarter was sure to look better due to Kaiba's win at the British Open. Zigfried, he noted with satisfaction, hadn't even made it to the top eight, although his younger brother Leon had placed sixth. Still, it was a hollow victory without Yugi Mutou competing, and Kaiba couldn't help but feel frustrated. Yet another chance to get back his title from that runt snatched away from him. And then Yugi had actually had the nerve to call him this morning and ask for a _favor_. Over more of that ancient Egyptian nonsense, too.

Kaiba found himself grinding his teeth. After all that weirdness in Egypt three years ago, and that last Ceremonial Battle where the two Yugis had fought it out, decisively sending the past back to the past, he'd hoped that that would be the last of the blatherings about Egypt this, destiny that. But it had been a futile hope. The little dweeb had to go and become an archaeologist, focusing his entire professional career on ancient freaking Egypt. And then this business with Ramesses, yet another psychotic blowhard claiming ties to the ancient past. Kaiba would've given half his fortune and one of his Blue-Eyes cards to have steered clear of that mess. Well, okay, not his Blue-Eyes. XYZ Dragon Cannon, though. He definitely would've given that up to stay out of the whole Ramesses thing, but no, like always, they have to go screw with his company. And now Yugi wanted to drag him in further by having him take time away from his busy schedule to research _death rituals_.

Yeah, like _that_ would happen.

And yet, here he was, thinking about all that stuff when he was supposed to be concentrating on market reports and figuring out how to leave Schroeder in the dust. Wait… wasn't there something he read in another report…? Leaning forward, he reached for the files, when he heard a commotion out in the living room and realized Mokuba's music was no longer playing.

"Seto's working! You can't just barge in there!"

"Watch me!"

Kaiba grimaced at the familiar voice as his study door slammed open and the voice's owner strode into the room like she owned the place. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Gardner."

She put her hands on her hips and stared down on him like a teacher about to assign him detention. "Seto Kaiba, you—"

"I tried to stop her, _Nii-sama_, but—"

"Okay, where do you want these?"

_Oh great_, Kaiba groaned inwardly as a weary-looking Joey Wheeler straggled in behind Téa and Mokuba, heaving a large box. This day was off to a fantastic start. Setting his jaw, Kaiba slammed both his palms down on his desk loud enough to make everyone stop.

"Would someone like to explain what the hell is going on? What makes you people think you have license to just walk into my home whenever you damn well please?"

"Don't look at me, I'm just the manual labor." Wheeler dropped his load with a grunt and collapsed onto a couch near the wall, jerking his head toward Téa. "This is _her_ bright idea."

Kaiba glared at him. "I don't remember inviting you to sit."

Téa stepped into his line of sight. "You listen to me, Seto Kaiba. We need your help, and I'm not leaving until we get it. This is your responsibility as much as it is Yugi's, and you know it!"

Kaiba's cheek twitched. Ancient freaking Egypt again. He should've known.

Mokuba put his hands on his hips, matching Téa's stance. "Téa, I already told you, he's working! You and Joey have to go!"

Kaiba waved him off with his hand. "It's all right, Mokuba. I'll handle this. But next time don't let in the riffraff."

Téa's eyes narrowed. "Don't you blame him! Fight your own battles!"

He glared at her a moment, then looked past her to Mokuba. "I'll take care of this, Mokuba. Go back to your room."

"I'm not a little kid, Seto!"

"Mokuba!"

He gave Kaiba one more hesitant look, then left the study in a huff.

Kaiba looked up at Téa. "Speaking of fighting one's own battles, any particular reason Yugi sent his girlfriend to do his dirty work for him?"

She looked like steam was going to start pouring out of her ears. "I'm not Yugi's gofer. I'm here for my own reasons."

Kaiba folded his hands in front of him. "Listen, Gardner, I know you saved Mokuba's life on that island, but if you recall, I repaid that favor by saving _your_ life, so if you think—"

She interrupted him with a grunt of exasperation, throwing up her hands. "Oh come _off_ it, Kaiba! This has nothing to do with that! You know good and well that I didn't save Mokuba to ingratiate myself to you or to garner any favors. I _care_ about Mokuba. And even if I didn't, I would've done the same for anyone. I was in the right place at the right time, nothing more, nothing less. And don't think I don't know that the same is true for you. You didn't save me from falling into that ravine because of some sort of payback. You did it because it was the right thing to do. And as much as you like to pretend otherwise, deep, deep, _deep_ down in that cold, black little heart of yours, you actually _care_."

He raised his eyebrows at her, but said nothing. Wheeler, he noticed, stayed silent behind her on the couch. Kaiba templed his fingers under his chin. "You don't honestly believe I care about all this ancient Egyptian nonsense, do you? If you've learned nothing else about me in the six _long_ years I've been forced to endure your company, I would have thought you'd learned this: I don't live in the past."

"I'm not talking about the past! You heard what Ishizu told us in London, that the… that Atem's and Seto's souls are in the Shadow Realm _right now_, and I _know_ you know what that means."

"When have you ever known me to follow along with all this ridiculous mumbo-jumbo you and your little dork squad are so fond of chasing after?"

"Oh come off it! You know what you saw in Egypt! What you saw on that island! You know the Shadow Realm is real, that Dark Games are real."

"Whether I agree with that statement or not, I don't see how any of this is any concern of mine."

Wheeler snorted.

"You have something to say, Wheeler?"

"I'm not gonna waste my breath talking sense into you 'cause I don't think you _have_ any. This is Téa's party."

Téa remained unyielding, her hands on her hips and her eyes fierce. "It was no accident that you felt it when the other Seto's body was attacked. Deny it all you want, but you're connected. You were _there_. You _saw_ him."

"That may be, but he's dead. He's been dead for thousands of years."

"Well, then, maybe you missed the end of the Ceremonial Battle where his spirit was standing _right there_ when Atem joined him in the afterlife. Their bodies are dead, but their souls… their souls are now trapped in the Shadow Realm. And we can fix that if we find that right ritual, but most of it's written in hieroglyphs or hieratic, and you're one of the few people we know who can read it. We _need your help_. To _free_ them."

"Gardner, how many times do I have to say it? Just because some guy who live thousands of years ago looked like me doesn't make him _my problem_."

Rather than respond, she strode forward to the desk. Spreading her hands out on either side of her and splaying out her fingers, she leaned forward toward him. She couldn't get very close to him; the desk was too expansive for that. But he couldn't help but be impressed with the level of intimidation she was able to pull off. He had to consciously refrain from flinching or changing position, which would have indicated weakness.

"All right, so you don't care about the other Seto, fine. But what about the other Yugi, Kaiba? He was your rival, your peer, and don't think I don't know that means something to you. You were there for that last battle. You know what the rules were. Atem wins, he stays. Yugi wins, he goes. Well, Yugi won and Atem went and I know if there's anything in the world you respect, Seto Kaiba, it's terms of engagement. Yugi won, Atem went to the afterlife; that was the terms of the game. Only now someone's changed the terms, and you know who that someone is. The same someone who sank our ship and got Rex and Weevil to knock down that boulder on top of your brother. The same someone who's trying to muck with your company. He invalidated the terms of the game three years after the fact."

She leaned a little closer. "You say I haven't learned anything about you over the last six years, but I have learned this. You might not always play fair. You might pull some pretty low stunts to win. But you always honor the terms of the game. And the Pharaoh—Atem—he always did, too. His word was his bond, and so is yours. So if you won't help because you're connected to the other Seto or because you knew and respected Atem, then help us because Ramesses has violated _the terms of the game_."

When she finished, she straightened up and folded her arms, waiting for his response. He stared back at her in a silent battle of wills without so much as blinking. At length, he let out a slow breath. "You're not going to leave until I agree to do this, are you?"

She smiled in victory. "See, you've learned something about me over the last six years, too."

* * *

Joey had thought that after her victory over Kaiba, Téa's foul mood would improve, but she merely went from angry to sullen on their walk back to Illusions Tower. Frankly, he liked the anger better. At least then she was lively.

When they stepped off the elevator into the common room on the thirty-ninth floor, she immediately went to the seat she'd been sitting in before they left, grabbed the stack of books she'd been reading, and took them back to the elevator without saying a word.

"Were you going now?" Joey asked her.

"Out. Got a problem with that?"

Joey took a quick step back. "No."

"Couldn't talk Kaiba into helping?" Tristan asked when the elevator doors closed behind Téa.

"Actually, she did." Joey flopped down on the couch near where his now-cold breakfast was still sitting on the coffee table. He grimaced at it, no longer hungry, then looked around, noticing that Tristan and Serenity were the only ones in the room. "Where is everybody?"

Serenity put her book aside. "Mai went up to her apartment to work on Pegasus's French books. She said she had some French dictionaries up there or something. Duke went home to get some clothes and stuff since he figured he'd be staying over the next couple of nights. He's gonna bring some takeout back with him for all of us. Yugi and Sara are still in the library. They haven't moved all morning."

"So if you guys convinced Kaiba to help, why's Téa still in a funk?" Tristan asked.

Joey shrugged. "Hell if I know. She didn't say two words on the way back."

Serenity leaned forward, her voice hushed. "I know. I wasn't sleeping well last night, so I came downstairs to get some tea. Téa was up too. She was in the kitchen slamming things around, so I asked her what was wrong. At first she wouldn't tell me, but then she just sat down and started crying and spilled the whole thing. She and Yugi had a fight."

"What, like she finally let him have it for being all distant lately?" Joey asked.

Serenity shook her head. "No, it was worse than that. He was the one mad at _her_. She wouldn't tell me exactly what happened, but I guess he told her he wants her to back off, and that she's making things difficult for him."

Joey's jaw dropped an inch. "He… _Yugi_? Said that? To _Téa_?"

"Yup. At least that's what Téa said he said. It sounded like—" She shook her head. "No, never mind."

"What?"

She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "I dunno, it almost sounded like she thought he was gonna break up with her or something."

Joey stared at her. "No way, that's just… no way. He's had a thing for her since, like, the dawn of time. I can't even—"

"I'm sure Téa was just being emotional 'cause they had a fight and everything," Serenity said a little hastily.

"Still, when was the last time Yugi blamed anyone for anything he could put on himself?" Joey shook his head. "It just ain't Yugi."

Tristan's face darkened. "He hasn't been acting normal since any of this happened. I'm starting to think there's more going on here."

Joey looked from Tristan to Serenity. "I think you may be right. There's something else you guys should know about, too. Mai's been having nightmares again. Ever since we left for Egypt."

Serenity's eyes widened in distress. "Oh, no, _Onii-chan_, really? Poor Mai! But… if they started when you left, why didn't she say something while we were still in London?"

Joey shrugged. "You know Mai. She still has trouble believing she doesn't have to handle everything all by herself."

Serenity ground her teeth in frustration. "Is that when Yugi started acting strange, too?"

Joey considered it a moment. "Well, he was pretty depressed when we left, but that wasn't strange, all things considered. It was the next day, after we saw the tombs, when he started getting kinda weird and moody."

"What could possibly be affecting Mai and Yugi both when they were a couple thousand miles apart?"

Tristan's eyes narrowed. "What's been with us the whole time we were in Egypt that we brought back with us?"

Serenity frowned. "Sara."

Tristan nodded. "She was awfully quick to volunteer to come, considering we're a bunch of strangers."

Serenity looked doubtful. "That wouldn't explain Mai's nightmares. At least not any she had prior to you guys getting back."

"No, but it's a place to start," Tristan said. "What do you say the three of us take a break from reading and do a little housecleaning, see if we can't find anything green and glowing? And I say we start with Sara's stuff."

* * *

By the time Duke returned with lunch, Joey, Tristan, and Serenity had thoroughly searched all of Sara's things in Téa's apartment, which Téa had left unlocked in her rush to leave, but they'd found nothing. No Orichalcos stones, nothing weird or creepy, nothing that gave any of them even a twinge of a bad feeling, unless you counted the twinge of guilt Joey felt going through someone else's stuff. _All for a good cause_, he told himself, but still, he would've felt better about it if they'd actually found something to justify the invasion of privacy.

They'd moved on to searching the common area downstairs for anything unusual when Duke showed up with three large pizzas. Yugi and Sara emerged from the library for the first time all day, and Joey went up to Mai's to get her to join them. He was concerned when he found her asleep on her living room couch, slumped over one of the French books.

"Hey Mai." He gently shook her shoulder.

Her eyelids fluttered, then she sat up quickly. "What?"

"Take it easy, it's just me. I came up to see if you wanted some lunch. Duke brought pizza."

She blinked and looked at him, disoriented a moment, then shook her head. "Oh, yeah, Joey. Sorry. I guess I dozed off while reading."

He sat down beside her. "I'm worried about you. You haven't been yourself today. Everything okay?"

"I'm fine. Egyptology in French isn't exactly fascinating stuff." She started to get up off the couch, but he gripped her arm, holding her back.

"Dammit, Mai, don't do this, okay? You're _not_ fine, I can _see_ that you're not fine, so quit pretending you are!"

She looked at him, a flash of annoyance in her eyes, but then it was gone and she sighed. "I know. I know you can tell. I just… damn. I don't want to let this keep eating me up every single time, you know? It's been over four years, Joey! Four years! Why does this keep coming up again and again? I've fought these demons already, and I _beat_ them. I'm here. I'm surrounded by friends. I didn't run away. So why can't I get past this?"

"Because something keeps messing with us. Some_one_ keeps messing with us. You're not the only one who's got some weirdness going on, either. Yugi's acting really strange, too. He had a fight with Téa last night."

Mai frowned, looking confused. "Huh?"

"I know; it's not like him. So something freaky is definitely going on here. Tristan and Serenity and I are gonna search the place, see if we can find any Orichalcos stones or anything else freaky. We'll figure this out, Mai, I promise."

A day of searching turned up nothing, however, and that night Mai's nightmares were worse.


	5. Guilt

**5. Guilt**

Sara looked up from the scroll she was reading and rubbed her eyes. After a day and a half of doing almost nothing but reading, she was exhausted. Even when studying for exams, she couldn't remember ever reading so much hieratic text all at one time. Looking across the table, she saw Yugi studying a thick leather-bound volume and was amazed by his intensity.

He was so different than she'd expected. Despite his rather roguish hair and clothing, he'd been uniformly described by everyone from Professor Julius to Ishizu Ishtar as rather quiet and unassuming. _Sweet, good-natured, _and_ friendly_ had been other adjectives she'd frequently heard from people talking about Yugi Mutou, but none of them seemed to fit the severe, morose young man she'd spent the last few days with. After their initial meeting and the subsequent discussion when she offered to help, he'd barely said two words to her that weren't directly related to what they could do to find the ritual he was seeking. Even his friends, who had clustered around him like disciples that first day in Luxor, seemed to be giving him wide berth now. And try as she might, she couldn't puzzle out exactly why this was so important to him or to any of them.

Of course, she wasn't exactly sure why it was important enough to her to travel over seven thousand miles to help, so she could hardly expect to be able to divine the reasons of a man she hardly knew. But it made her extremely curious.

The high-pitched notes of a mobile ringtone broke the silence, and Sara jumped as Yugi reached into his pocket without looking up from his reading. She recognized the tune as "You're My Best Friend" by Queen, and she couldn't help but note how incongruent the cheerful tune was with the man who silenced it with a curt hello. Pretending to go back to her reading, she watched him from beneath her lashes as he scowled into the phone.

"What? What are you talking about, Kaiba? I don't have time to play games with you." There was a pause as he listened, frowning. "What scrolls? You already said you weren't going to help." Another long pause, and something like surprise spread across his features. "Wait, back up a step. Téa and Joey brought over some of the texts yesterday?"

She risked a more open glance, curious about the conflicting emotions on his face. He looked almost… ashamed?

"I… we're looking for death rituals," he said into the phone, his brusque tone gone, replaced by something more abashed. "Specifically anything that sends the _Akh_ to the afterlife. Or anything to do with how to respond to grave desecrations. There might be mention of some of the gods that pertain to death, like Osiris, Anubis, Ammit, Ma'at, or Nephthys." Another pause, and then the irritation was back. "What do you want me to do, come over and hold your hand while you read?"

Yugi pulled the phone away from his ear at the response that was so loud even Sara could hear it: "Don't think you can get away with playing pharaoh with _me_, Yugi!"

Yugi blanched as he returned the phone to his ear, gripping it tightly. "I am not 'playing pharaoh' with you, Kaiba, I'm just not sure how I can…" He drifted off as his gaze fell on Sara, his expression turning thoughtful. "I have an idea. Let me call you back in minute."

Folding the phone shut, he turned his attention fully on her. "Sara, I have a favor to ask. A—well, I suppose you could say a friend of ours—knows how to read hieroglyphics and hieratic texts and has, apparently, agreed to help look for a ritual to bring Atem and Seto back. The problem is, he doesn't actually know anything about Egyptology, so he doesn't know what he's looking for."

Sara's brow furrowed. "How is it that someone learned hieroglyphics without learning anything about Egyptology? That seems a bit incongruent."

"Yes, I know. It's a long story, actually, and I'd rather not get into it right now. But I was wondering if you'd be willing to go work with him, help give him some key phrases to look for, and then look over anything he might find to see if it's useful. I'd go myself, but, well, let's just say Kaiba and I are more rivals than friends. I doubt my working with him would be all that constructive."

She shrugged. "Well, I suppose it's all right. Will he be coming over here then?"

Yugi snorted. "I don't think so. He wouldn't lower himself by coming to us. Would you mind going over to Kaiba Corp? It's just down the street from here, a block or two. Huge building, can't miss it. We can get someone to drive you over if you like."

She rolled her eyes. "Americans and their bloody obsession with automobiles."

He smiled, one of the few she'd seen from him. "I'm not American, but yeah. Welcome to California."

"Well, I'm quite capable of walking a block or two. Just point me in the right direction."

His grin turned serious once more. "Thank you, Sara. I really appreciate everything you've done to help."

"It's no trouble. I told you before, it seems like the right thing to do. For Seto. And Atem, of course," she added hastily, a little embarrassed at having singled out one of the pharaohs over the other, although come to think of it, Yugi seemed to single out Atem over Seto rather frequently.

He gave her a curious look, then smiled again. "All right. Then I'll call Kaiba back and arrange everything."

* * *

Sara left after lunch, and Yugi brought the Tomb Keepers' journals he was going through down to the common room, deciding he needed to make a conscious effort not to barricade himself off from his friends. Tristan was right that he was only half himself, and if he had any hope at all of reconnecting with himself, it wasn't going to happen by isolating himself from the people who cared about him.

He was finding it hard to concentrate, however. Téa was noticeably absent and, from what he could gather, had been staying away from the penthouse since yesterday morning. He knew it was because of him; after what he'd said to her the night they got back, he could hardly blame her for wanting to stay away from him. It was what he'd asked for, after all. But ever since Kaiba had told him she'd been the one who had talked him into helping, he'd started feeling guilty, and it was gnawing at him.

"Did Téa say when she'd be back?" he asked Joey, who had just gotten up from his seat near Mai and come by where Yugi was sitting to get another one of the Japanese books.

"Nope." Joey gave him a sympathetic look. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

Joey looked at him a moment more, then shrugged. "Okay." He grabbed his book, and went back to sit next to Mai again.

What he really needed to do, Yugi realized, was talk to Téa, and he was going to have a hard time concentrating until he did. He'd been unfair to her, taking the anger he felt with himself and turning it outward toward her when it wasn't her fault. What was happening to him—what had been happening to him ever since Egypt—had nothing to do with her, and he'd not wanted to talk about it, to tell her or any of them because he kept hoping it was his imagination, that it wasn't real, couldn't possibly be real because it didn't make any sense. But somehow, he'd wanted her to instinctively _know_. If she really loved _him_ like she claimed, she should know. She should see it. But she didn't, and he knew that was because he and his other self had become so blended in her mind.

He let his fingers drift to the chains around his neck until they came to the cartouche she had given him. He looked at the symbols that spelled out _Yugi_, then clenched the cartouche in his fist, squeezing it until its edges dug into his palm. Why a cartouche? Why did she have to blend them like that, putting _Yugi_ in a cartouche? They weren't the same, why couldn't she see that? Why didn't she _know_?

But that, he finally admitted to himself, wasn't fair, either. He wasn't even sure himself, that's how much he'd incorporated his other self into his own heart, mind, and soul. And if he wasn't sure, if he kept trying to tell himself it was impossible, that there must be a reason for feeling the way he did, _anything_ but what he most feared, then how could he possibly expect her to jump to such a radical conclusion? He'd purposely kept it to himself, not telling any of them because he'd been afraid of their reaction. They were his friends, yes, he knew that. But when it came down to it, he knew where their loyalty lay, and that was as it should be.

And they'd already forgiven him once.

_No_, his mind rebelled from that thought. _There has to be some other explanation because it doesn't make any_ sense. But how else could he explain the lost memories? For three years, his memories and his other self's memories from their time together had merged, forming a more and more cohesive—if somewhat patchwork—whole. And now half of those memories were gone. He couldn't access them no matter how hard he tried, and it scared him more than anything else possibly could. Not since—_No_!

But what if it was true? Then _how_? And why? And was it his fault? It must be his fault. He was here and his other self was not. And Téa had to know, even if she didn't see it herself and had to be told. She had the right to know. But instead of just telling her, he'd withdrawn, expecting her to put it all together herself and to be as devastated as he was, and when she didn't, he went and mucked it up like a complete idiot. There was truth to what he'd said to her, yes. But ultimately, it wasn't his problem, and making it his problem now when there were more pressing concerns had been astonishingly stupid, and he'd done it just to assuage his own guilt. He'd wanted to make it _her_ fault, not his. _She's_ the one who didn't have it sorted out in her head. _She's_ the one who wanted it both ways. Not him.

The thing was, even if there was some truth to that, it wasn't the whole truth, and he didn't want to examine the other side of it too closely, because that would make _him_ the disloyal one. He knew what mattered most to him, and yet with everything going on, with his other self's soul trapped in a place that would slowly leech the life out of his spirit if they didn't fix it and fix it soon, he still was thinking about _her_. And that guilt added to the rest and ate away at him, so he'd pushed her away and pushed hard, telling himself that she was the inappropriate one when it was really _him_. How _could_ he when his other self meant everything?

He leaned back in his seat, squeezing his eyes shut. _You do mean everything_, he thought, reaching out across the void to his other self. _You mean everything. I'm nothing without you. I never was. That was the whole_ point.

"Yo, Yuge."

He opened his eyes to find Joey and Tristan both hovering over him like a couple of mother hens. "I'm fine," he said automatically.

Tristan shook his head. "So not, dude. You're completely out of it. You need a nap. Until, like, tomorrow morning. You aren't going to do Atem any good like this, okay? You'll be able to work a lot better when you're rested."

Yugi looked from Tristan to Joey, but Joey offered no sympathy. "Don't look at me, I'm on his side."

"It's one o'clock in the afternoon." Yugi's protest did not have much enthusiasm behind it, though.

"And you haven't slept since we left Egypt. Go!" Joey pointed a finger towards the stairs. "Or we're gonna have to drag you! And don't think we won't. You may out-duel me, pal, but I can out-muscle you any day of the week."

Yugi sighed. "You're right. I do need some sleep."

"And don't even think about taking any books with you. They'll still be here tomorrow."

Yugi rolled his eyes. "Yes, Grandpa." He got up from his seat, and only then did Tristan and Joey step aside so he could get past them and head toward the stairs. Maybe they were right. Maybe his mind was just playing tricks on him because he was exhausted and bereft.

Maybe sleep would make the memories right again.


	6. The White Dragon

**6. The White Dragon**

Kaiba stepped through the revolving doors into the main lobby of the Kaiba Corp building, trying to fight his rising irritation, Mokuba on his heels. Between Téa Gardner and those damned Egyptian texts, Mokuba talking him into a long lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, and now having to meet with this Sara Drake person Yugi was sending over, he was getting absolutely nothing worthwhile accomplished on his first real day of work after the holidays. Well, spending time with Mokuba was always worthwhile, he amended, but between school still being out for winter break and the way he'd been pining over that Rebecca Hawkins girl being in Boston—_just friends, my ass_, Kaiba thought, rolling his eyes—Mokuba was being something of an attention sponge. And now he wanted to know all about the ridiculous Egyptian texts Kaiba had stupidly let Téa talk him into reading.

"So is Yugi actually looking for some kind of ritual to bring back the dead? 'Cause I don't know if I think that's really, really creepy, or totally cool. Though we are talking about the other Yugi, and it would be kinda nice if he came back, don'tcha think? And man, would I like to get to meet the ancient version of you. How cool—" He stopped short. "Hey, wait a minute, Seto. If Yugi's trying to bring them back, does that mean you're gonna have the other Seto's spirit living in your _head_ like Yugi did with the other Yugi?"

Kaiba spun around on his heel, his lip curling at the very thought. "That had better _not_ be what Yugi expects, because I sure as _hell_ am not going to—" He stopped abruptly as something caught his eye over by the huge metal sculpture of Blue-Eyes White Dragon that dominated the lobby. A woman with startlingly white hair was walking slowly around the sculpture, staring up at it, transfixed. Her hair was pulled back and twisted up into a clip at the back of her head, but the way she moved, the way she seemed completely riveted by the Blue-Eyes was so familiar, that for a moment he could almost see her with hair long and loose, flowing well past her shoulders all the way to her waist, dressed in coarse sackcloth instead of the long coat, blazer, and jeans she was actually wearing.

"Seto?" Mokuba prodded him. "You okay?"

Kaiba shook his head and the vision vanished, leaving only the woman as she was, in modern clothes with her hair pulled back. _Wonderful, I'm imagining things._ Except… he caught a glimpse of her face as she circled around the sculpture, and even at this distance he could see her eyes were the most startling shade of blue.

_"Nii-sama?"_

Kaiba shook his head again, his brother's sudden use of Japanese clearing his head. "Mokuba, I have something I need to take care of before I meet with that woman Yugi's sending over. Why don't you go up to R and D and check out that new beta version of the Duel Disk upgrade. I wanna see how it handles some of the new cards Industrial Illusions is releasing in February. They're already pre-loaded into the system.

Mokuba's face lit up. It was a rare occasion when Kaiba let him near any of the stuff that was still in developmental phase, let alone see advances of new card releases. "Really? Awesome!" He took off at a brisk jog toward the elevators before Kaiba could change his mind.

As soon as his brother was gone, Kaiba turned his attention back to the girl. At first he couldn't find her, but then she appeared from behind the Blue-Eyes sculpture, having made a complete circuit around it. And still she stared, completely mesmerized.

Finally, he approached her. "May I help you?"

She turned to look at him, and he almost gasped, recognizing her face immediately. _Kisara!_

She looked up at him, smiling a little sheepishly. Even in high-heeled boots she came up just to his chin. "Thank you, no. I was just admiring this dragon sculpture." She had an English accent, which surprised him. Had he really been expecting her to sound Egyptian? He chided himself for his stupidity while she continued to examine Blue-Eyes. "She's quite breathtaking." She did, in fact, sound breathless. "I've never seen anything quite like her."

Her? No one but him ever called Blue-Eyes _her_. It was a rare occasion that someone could render Kaiba speechless, but he actually was finding it difficult to speak, his mouth having gone inexplicably dry. _This is ridiculous. She's just a Brit who likes dragons, not some ancient Egyptian who probably never really existed anyway._ He swallowed, finding his voice. "How did you know it's a her?"

She looked at him, confused. "What?"

"You said you'd never seen anything quite like 'her.' Most people don't know she's female."

She flushed a little, looking down. "Did I say 'her'? I don't know why I did. It just came out that way."

"Do you play Duel Monsters?" he asked, all the while wondering why he was standing here making small talk with this strange woman who was so _not_ some reincarnated Egyptian, no matter how much she looked like—

She chuckled. "Is this a Duel Monster? I might have known. No, I don't play, but I'm beginning to think I should learn."

"Yes, it's a Duel Monster. It's Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

Her eyes widened and she looked from the Blue-Eyes to him and back. "It's… it's a _white_ dragon?"

"Yes, why?"

She looked back at the Blue-Eyes, even more awed. "I… I rather fancy dragons, white dragons in particular. But this one… there's something about her."

"Yes." He looked up at the likeness of his signature monster. "Yes, Blue-Eyes is quite special."

She gave him a curious look. "Did you say 'Blue-Eyes'? Is that anything like Red-Eyes Black Dragon?"

Kaiba choked. "Absolutely not. Blue-Eyes is one of the finest monsters in the game. Red-Eyes… that _thing_ can't even come close."

She raised her eyebrow at him. "You're a duelist, I take it? You lot take your monsters quite seriously, don't you?"

"Very. Or at least any duelist worth the title does."

"And this white dragon is one of your favorites?"

"She's my signature monster. There are only three in the world, and I own them all." He didn't feel it necessary to add that there originally had been four Blue-Eyes White Dragons, but that he'd torn up the fourth card, which had belonged to Yugi Mutou's grandfather, just so it could never be used against him in a duel.

"Really?" She smiled at him, a somewhat crooked smile that he found oddly appealing. "Do you often come here to commune with the likeness of your favorite monster, then?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I come here because it's my building. I'm the CEO of Kaiba Corp."

Her eyes widened and her mouth rounded into a look of surprise. "You? You're Mr. Kaiba, then?"

"Yes, that's right. And you are?"

She gave a rueful shake of her head. "I'm your one o'clock appointment, actually." She stuck out her hand. "Sara Drake. I'm the Egyptologist Yugi Mutou sent to work with you on those hieroglyphs and hieratic texts."

Kaiba's face hardened into a deep scowl and he folded his arms, pointedly refusing her outstretched hand. "Yugi sent you. I might've known."

"I'm sorry?" She dropped her hand, confused. "You were expecting me, weren't you?"

"I'd agreed to help him with this ridiculous snipe hunt because the terms of the Ceremonial Battle should be honored—nothing more, nothing less. I don't appreciate him trying to manipulate me with illusions from the past. You can just go back to him and tell him to forget it. I'm not interested."

"I beg your pardon?" Her expression was somewhere between confusion and anger.

His own anger was growing by the second, and he glared at her. "The blue eyes are a nice touch, though. Contacts? And the hair, was it hard to get it that white?" He shook his head. He'd almost been sucked in. Almost.

Sara looked furious, however. _"Excuse_ me? I'm sure I have no idea what you're on about, but I assure you my eyes and hair are my own, not that it's any of your business."

"And did he tell you to make a big deal about Blue-Eyes? He probably told you to say she's a her, too."

"I'm making a fuss for exactly the reasons I said, because I rather fancy dragons, and this one in particular is quite lovely. And no, no one told me your dragon is a her. She just seems like a her to me. But I _was_ told that you were something of an obnoxious git, and I suppose _that's_ true enough."

They glared at each other a moment. "So I'm supposed to believe the Egyptology student working with Yugi just happens to have white hair and blue eyes and just happens to be fascinated by dragons?"

"What the bloody hell does my hair and eye color—" And then she stopped short, looking from the sculpture to him once more. "I see. _Blue_-Eyes _White_ Dragon. You think this is some kind of practical joke Yugi put me up to, then?"

He continued to glare, saying nothing.

"Because I assure you, it's merely a coincidence. And I haven't known him very long, but Yugi Mutou doesn't strike me as much of a practical joker."

This was true enough. Depending on whether he was in the middle of a battle or not, he was either a naïve Pollyanna or a pompous windbag who liked to recite sermons on the topics of friendship and teamwork. Now Wheeler, on the other hand… "Joey Wheeler, then."

"Mr. Kaiba, I assure you, I am exactly as I appear to be. If anyone is playing a joke on you, then I'm afraid they didn't let me in on it."

"Then why are you so interested in Blue-Eyes?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" She threw up her hands, exasperated. "I told you, I fancy dragons! I've always been mad about them. Before I started an Egyptology course, I was studying ancient China because of the dragon mythology."

He eyed her evenly. Could it really just be coincidence? He ground his teeth a moment, then let out a breath in irritation. "Fine. It's a misunderstanding, then."

She crossed her arms and cocked her head. "Is that an apology?"

"I don't apologize. To anyone. Ever."

"How nice for you," she said coolly. "Well then, Mr. Kaiba, perhaps we should just get to work."

He took another breath. "Seto," he said, then wondered why he'd said it as soon as it was out of his mouth. No one but Mokuba ever called him Seto.

"What about him?"

"It's my name. Seto Kaiba. You don't have to call me Mr. Kaiba. It's Kaiba. Or Seto. Take your pick."

Now she looked truly startled. "Your name is Seto?"

"Yes." His eyes narrowed once more.

"You… is that a common Japanese name?"

"No. Do you have a problem with my name?" Usually it was his surname that got a reaction from people.

"You do know that the name of one of the pharaohs whose tomb was desecrated was Seto, don't you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, that. I assure you, despite Yugi's little speeches about _destiny_ and _fate,_ it's a coincidence."

"Well, yes," she said, still looking a bit stunned. "It would have to be. He wasn't even discovered until three years ago. It's just… how odd. It's an unusual Egyptian name as well. Well, it's really actually _Set_, as near as we can tell. There aren't really vowels in the Egyptian alphabet, but the scholar who discovered his name for some reason added the _o _as a colloquialism to distinguish him from the god Set and from the more well-known pharaohs Seti I and Seti II, and it stuck." She looked at him, suddenly embarrassed. "But I'm babbling, and you don't care. I'm sorry, forgive me for being startled. I'm writing my master's dissertation on this particular pharaoh. Well, and Atem and Aknamkanon as well. I'm just surprised that you have the same name. I wonder why Yugi didn't tell me."

Kaiba shrugged. "He doesn't normally call me by my given name. It's just a coincidence." In truth, it was a coincidence that gnawed at him if he gave it much thought. Yugi, despite looking like and even sharing a body with the past incarnation of himself—if one believed that stuff, which Kaiba liked to think he didn't—did not share his 'other self's' name. None of the other familiar faces that populated that strange vision world he'd visited along with Yugi and his gang of sycophants had the same name as the present-day people they resembled. So why was it that he had the same name as a guardian-come-pharaoh who wasn't even discovered until after all that happened?

"Yes, of course. It just took me by surprise." Sara cocked her head and looked at him in a way that seemed to bore right through him. He found himself starting back at her and their eyes locked a moment before they both turned away, embarrassed.

"We should… let me show you up to my office," he said, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably. What was the _matter_ with him? There wasn't a person on the face of the planet that could unsettle him, so why was this woman able to throw him off so easily?

_Because she looks like _her_, that's why._

He shook his head. It was all nonsense. He'd been spending way too much time around Yugi Mutou. It was starting to mess with his head. White hair, blue eyes, dragon fascination; all of that was coincidence. She was not someone from the ancient past. _And neither am I_, he reminded himself.


	7. Distracted

**7. Distracted**

"So how is it someone so young is the CEO of an international corporation?" Sara gave up trying to concentrate on the scroll in front of her. "You can't be more than, what, twenty-five?"

Seto Kaiba didn't bother looking up from his own scroll. "Twenty-two."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Twenty-_two_? That's my age! How on earth did you end up in such a position at your age?"

Now he looked up, smirking at her over the top of his own scroll. "Actually, I took over Kaiba Corp from my stepfather when I was sixteen."

She felt her jaw drop. "_Sixteen_? Come off it! I know wealthy young heirs inherit their positions in family businesses, but so young?"

"It was less of an inheritance and more of a hostile takeover." He was completely matter-of-fact, as if he'd just told her that he'd purchased a liter of milk on his way home.

"Hostile… oh, now you must be joking!"

"I don't joke."

She eyed him, stunned. "You're saying you _took over_ your father's company against his will? When you were _sixteen_?"

"My stepfather," he corrected her. "Well, actually, he was my adopted father, but we called him stepfather because there was no way in hell I wanted to be associated with him closely enough call him father."

"But a _hostile_ takeover?"

"If you'd have known Gozaburo Kaiba, you'd be wondering why I waited so long. He was a foul, venomous snake, and that's what I call him when I'm being generous."

Sara stared at him, gaping, but he merely returned his attention to the text in front of him. She clenched her teeth and tried to go back to her own text, but was finding it increasingly difficult to not be completely distracted by Seto Kaiba. He was absolutely the most maddening person she'd ever met. A hostile takeover of his own father's company when he was only _sixteen_?

It was just one of the things that she was having trouble absorbing about this man. And yet, much to her consternation, she found herself utterly captivated by him to the point that she was having difficulty concentrating on the scroll she was trying to read. But _why_? He was attractive, true, and obscenely wealthy; a couple of hours ago they'd moved from his office, which had been pretty impressive, up to his penthouse on the top floor of the same building. If she'd been awed by the luxury of the flat Yugi and his friends shared, she was completely floored by the opulence of Seto Kaiba's home. Then, after giving her a brief tour, he'd gone and changed from his business suit into a black turtleneck shirt and black jeans, and the result was most definitely _not_ helping lessen the distraction. He also wore a pendant that looked like one of those Duel Monsters cards on a chain around his neck. It was on odd, almost childish piece of jewelry for someone of his position and rather severe personality to be wearing, and it piqued her curiosity.

But still, it was so unlike her to react this way. She was not a romantic. Well, she was about anything to do with ancient Egypt or dragons, but not about men. She'd had her share of relationships, of course, and appreciated attractive men as much as the next girl, but she'd never felt this drawn to someone before, and certainly not within hours of meeting them. She did not believe in such notions as love at first sight or soulmates, and it was disconcerting to find herself feeling so enthralled by a man she'd only just met.

And it wasn't as if he were without flaws. He was serious to the point of emotional constipation, for one thing. She'd thought Yugi was grave, but that seemed to be a direct result of what had happened in Luxor. Seto, on the other hand, seemed to be this way all the time. She was reasonably certain his face would crack if he smiled, unless you counted smirking or the predatory grin he'd get when talking about a conquest of some sort. A genuine smile or warmth of any kind seemed completely beyond him. He also was arrogant and brittle and self-important. He complained at regular intervals that he had better things to do, and yet he continued to work with her, finding texts that he thought might be what Yugi was looking for and bringing them to her for confirmation, only to discover that he'd found a story instead of a ritual or a prayer instead of a rite. But when he did bring something to her, sliding close enough that she could smell his cologne, her breath would catch and she would flush like a schoolgirl getting an autograph from a rock star.

_Stop it, Sara! You're not a schoolgirl and he's nothing special. He's an arrogant, brittle, self-important arse!_

She tried to focus on her work once more, but curiosity won out and she looked up at him again. "I'm sorry, I just have to know, how on earth does a sixteen-year-old manage a hostile takeover of his father's company?"

"Stepfather. I just bought controlling shares of the company when he wasn't paying attention."

"But why? I mean, what sixteen-year-old wants to run a company? You should've been worrying about cars and girls and school dances, not stocks and shareholders."

He smirked again. "Like I said, if you'd have known Gozaburo Kaiba, you'd understand. No son of his was going to waste time on trivial things like cars and girls. I had been groomed to take over the company since I was ten. I just did it sooner than he expected."

"And where is he now?"

"Dead," Seto said flatly in a voice that made it clear there was to be no further discussion on that topic.

"So you had a horrible father—_step_father," she amended when he was about to interrupt again, "and decided instead of running away like a normal sixteen-year-old, you'd push him out instead?"

"Pretty much." He let out a huff of air and gave her a look so intense she almost backed away from him. "Look. He stole virtual reality technology _I_ developed and used it to help train soldiers to be more effective killers, so I just took it back—and the company along with it. Now Kaiba Corp is in the gaming industry instead of creating military weapons."

"You…?" She blinked. "You developed virtual reality technology when you were sixteen, too?"

"Fifteen." He looked down at his scroll, and she thought he was going to go back to reading when he said in a much softer tone than she would expect from him, "Besides, I couldn't run away. I had my brother to think about."

"Your brother?"

"Mokuba. He's seven years younger than me. Our mother died when he was born, and our father—our _real_ father—died three years later. That's when Gozaburo adopted us. I didn't mind the old man turning _me_ into a corporate automaton; I was born for this sort of thing. But he sure as hell wasn't going to do it to Mokuba. I took over the company to keep Gozaburo from Mokuba."

She tilted her head, scrutinizing him as he returned his attention to the text. She tried to process this new information, to fit it into the mental image she'd been forming of him, and it forced her to reassess some of her opinions. Not only was there a surprising warmth in his voice when he spoke of his brother, the fact that he described himself as an automaton showed a self-awareness she wouldn't have attributed to him moments before.

"And where is your brother now?"

"Around." He shrugged without looking up. "Downstairs in R and D, last I checked. I let him test one of the beta versions of the new Duel Disk software. He's been bored lately with school out for winter break and his little girlfriend visiting relatives in Boston."

"Then you're his guardian now?"

"I always was. Now I am legally as well, yes. Hm. Here's something about a ritual," he said, changing tracks suddenly, moving closer to her to show her what he was reading. "Something about the 'Opening of the Mouth'?"

She tried not to notice his hand resting on her shoulder. _Focus, Sara._ "Uh… yes, the Opening of the Mouth. It's part of the standard funeral rites to prepare the body for the afterlife. It isn't going to help us without intact bodies."

"Hm." He grunted again, looking at the text once more, but without moving away from her. "Every other thing we read is about standard funeral rites. What are the chances we're going to find something different?"

"Yugi seems to think these texts would contain information outside of the usual Egyptian scholarship."

"Why? Where'd he get them?"

"From Ishizu Ishtar. She's the Director of the Egyptian Bureau of Archaeology. Yugi believes she has sources that other scholars do not."

Seto snorted. "I'm sure that's true, knowing her."

She looked at him in surprise, trying not to flush at how close he was. "You know Ishizu Ishtar?"

"Unfortunately. She likes to spout almost as much magic mumbo-jumbo as Yugi."

Her brows furrowed as a thought occurred to her. "Have you known her long? She's the one who discovered Seto's name, you know. She didn't add the _o_ because of you, did she?"

"I met her four or five years ago." There was an odd quality to his voice, and Sara suspected he was being evasive. It made her wonder if that wasn't exactly how her favorite pharaoh got his unusual name. It certainly made more sense than the shared name being a coincidence, especially considering it was unusual in both languages. And yet… there was something about the name, as odd as it was, that just felt right to her, as if it truly belonged to the ancient pharaoh. And, come to think of it, to the man sitting beside her as well.

But now she was curious about this Seto and his relationship with Ishizu Ishtar. Why was he being evasive? "So how is it that a businessman with absolutely no interest in ancient Egypt whatsoever knows Ishizu Ishtar and can read hieroglyphs and hieratic texts?"

"I ask myself that regularly. I seem to attract the nutjobs like a magnet. I—"

The door banged open, cutting him off, and a voice that sounded like it belonged to a teenage boy rang out. "Hey Seto, are you home? Roland said you left the office a few hours ago, and I—"

A young man rounded the corner and skidded to a stop when he saw them. He had long, black hair pulled back into a ponytail and wide gray eyes that reminded her of something she couldn't quite place. He also had an exact duplicate of the strange pendant Seto wore around his own neck.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had company," he said politely, but he gave her a curious look, and she suspected that company was not a common occurrence in this home.

Seto shifted subtly away from her. "Mokuba, this is Sara Drake. She's the Egyptologist who's helping Yugi find… whatever it is Yugi's looking for." He sniffed in disdain. "Sara, this is my brother, Mokuba."

"Pleased to meet you," the boy said, and she was struck by how different from his brother he was. He seemed a bundle of warm energy, and didn't appear to have any of Seto's haughtiness.

She smiled at him. "I'm glad to meet you, too."

"So you're going to help bring the other Yugi back?" Mokuba flopped down on a chair across from them.

She frowned, confused. "Other Yugi?"

"And how 'bout the other Seto?" Mokuba leaned forward, his face alive with curiosity. "Is he gonna have to live in Seto's head like—"

"Mokuba!"

"Well, where else is he gonna go?"

Seto bristled. "_Anywhere_ else."

Sara looked back and forth between them, feeling the same way she'd felt back in Luxor, when she'd first offered to help and Yugi and he and the others had gone off on some bizarre tangent that had made no sense whatsoever. Before she could ask what they were talking about, Mokuba piped up again. "So you gonna work through dinner, I take it?"

Seto put aside his scroll. "Actually, I was thinking we should take a break."

Mokuba gaped at him. "You're… taking a break? Like… voluntarily?"

"Yes, Mokuba." Seto gave him an impatient look. "This isn't exactly Kaiba Corp business. I think I can justify taking a break for dinner. You must be hungry, Sara."

"I am feeling a bit peckish, actually. And I could use a break as well." Lord knows she certainly wasn't accomplishing much obsessing over the man beside her.

Mokuba looked back and forth between the two of them and then gave his brother a sly smile. "You two should go downstairs to Shiroki Ryu.

"Shiroki Ryu?" Sara asked.

"It's the sushi restaurant a couple floors down. Really nice, but not so fancy you have to dress up. And very… cozy. With fantastic views of the city."

Sara felt herself flush again as she got the distinct impression Seto's brother was trying to set them up on a date.

Seto seemed to notice as well. "And while we're at Shiroki Ryu, what would you be doing?"

Mokuba shrugged. "The usual. Hang out here, play some video games."

"For food, I mean."

"Call for takeout."

"I don't think so. Why don't we all go?"

Sara wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved at the teen's inclusion, but Mokuba looked exasperated. "Seto…"

Seto just glared at his brother, then turned to her, his face softening ever so slightly. "Do you like Japanese food, Sara?"

She smiled. "I adore it."

"Good. I think you'll like Shiroki Ryu in particular. It's Japanese for _White Dragon_."


	8. BlueEyes

**8. Blue-Eyes**

Bringing Mokuba with them to dinner had been a good choice, Kaiba reflected. Unlike his brother, Kaiba was not a social creature by nature; the closest thing to socializing he ever did was the various affairs he attended on behalf of Kaiba Corp, and the occasional hook-up with what Mokuba liked to call his "fangirls." The latter followed a pretty standard script: dinner at a pretentious restaurant, talk about the latest business or Duel Monsters conquest mixed in with a few standard lines, back to his place, then breakfast and a note left for her in the morning after he'd left for work. Roland or one of his other assistants would make sure she got home—and that it was understood she was not to come back.

Sara, on the other hand, was actually interesting and intelligent, and he had no idea how to talk to her. Mokuba filled the gap nicely, his outgoing personality engaging her easily. She talked about her undergraduate work at the University of Cambridge, first in Chinese studies and then in Egyptology. She talked about her current master's work, which focused on the three pharaohs to whom Yugi and himself were ostensibly connected. When she mentioned that her mentor, a Professor Julius, had been on that dig in the Egyptian desert with Yugi and Professor Hawkins last year, Mokuba went on a half-hour tangent about Hawkins' granddaughter, and Sara not only bore it with good humor, she seemed to actually find it charming.

She talked a long time about dragons and her interest in them and the various myths and cultural beliefs about them. Eventually, the discussion came around to Duel Monsters. Though she claimed to be poor at games of any sort, she was interested in Blue-Eyes White Dragon and how she worked in the context of the game. Kaiba had tried explaining the basic rules of the game, with Mokuba interjecting every so often in an attempt to simplify the jargon for her, but it was hard to get across the intricacies of the game's strategy or the majesty of Blue-Eyes in action with mere words.

"Instead of trying to explain it, why don't I just show you?" Kaiba leaned forward, resting his chin on interlocked hands. "Mokuba was just trying out some new software for the Duel Disks—holographic projectors, basically, makes the monsters and spells and traps into life-sized holograms. I could take you down to the testing area and teach you how to duel. We must have a basic dragon structure deck down there you could use. Mokuba can help."

Mokuba gaped at him. "You're going to teach a newbie how to play?"

"Yes, Mokuba," he said wearily, although he couldn't blame him for being surprised. He barely had the patience to play with anyone who wasn't Yugi Mutou, let alone someone who had never played at all. "It would give her a chance to see Blue-Eyes in action."

"Oh, I'd like that." Then her smile turned into a grimace. "But we should probably get in a little more reading before it gets to be too late."

Kaiba groaned. "If I have to read one more hieroglyph, my eyes are going to _bleed_. I think we should call it a night as far as ancient texts are concerned."

She wavered, uncertain, clearly wanting to see the Blue-Eyes in all its holographic splendor. Finally, she relented. "All right. Let's do it."

* * *

Since Mokuba was easily the more patient of the two brothers, they'd decided that he would help her duel against Kaiba, showing her which cards to play and how to plan a basic strategy. She had the test model of the newest Duel Disk version strapped to arm, as did Kaiba, with the settings dialed down well below tournament standards so attacks wouldn't be so forcefully felt. He wanted to show her how impressive Blue-Eyes was without knocking her off her feet to do so.

Still, as much as he tried, Kaiba could not tone down his competitive edge to match her level. Even with Mokuba helping her along, they'd gone through three duels in the space of fifteen minutes, all without him ever getting the opportunity to summon Blue-Eyes.

The fourth duel was going a little better for her. Although she showed no natural aptitude for the game whatsoever, she was bright, and the dragons in the structure deck Mokuba had found for her interested her enough to keep her trying. She still had thirty-four hundred Life Points and Kiryu, a beautiful red dragon with two thousand attack points, on her side of the field when Kaiba finally drew one of his Blue-Eyes. He looked across to her and smiled.

Mokuba knew immediately. "Uh-oh, here it comes. He's got Blue-Eyes, I can tell."

Sara had been studying her hand with her nose wrinkled, but she looked up at Mokuba's mention of Blue-Eyes, her expression becoming one of rapt attention. Her eyes met his, sending a shiver down his spine. Ignoring it, he focused on the monsters on his field. He had Battle Ox and Kaiser Sea Horse, the latter of which allowed him to sacrifice it alone to summon a Light Attribute monster rather than the two tributes that Blue-Eyes usually required. He also had the instant magic card Shrink facedown. Perfect.

"I sacrifice Kaiser Sea Horse to summon Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" He raised the Blue-Eyes card triumphantly into the air before putting it into a monster slot on his Duel Disk. Sea Kaiser dissolved, and Blue-Eyes materialized on the field, towering over him like a protective guardian.

He watched Sara as she caught her breath, her face lighting up in awe. Blue-Eyes was an impressive monster, both lethal and rare, so naturally she was a monster every fan of the game clamored to see, but he had never seen anyone regard her with such utter wonder as Sara did. She looked from Blue-Eyes down to him and back again, her eyes round and captivated. He swallowed, feeling a thrill that had nothing to do with his imminent victory.

"Are you ready to see her in action?"

She met his eyes again and nodded.

"I activate the magic card Shrink, which cuts your Kiryu's attack points in half. Battle Ox, attack Kiryu!" Battle Ox ran at the reduced-strength red dragon, slashing through it with his sword. Kiryu disintegrated, bringing Sara's Life Points down to twenty-five hundred. "And now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack her Life Points directly with White Lightning attack!"

Blue-Eyes reared back for her attack, and then something strange happened. She stopped, frozen, as if the Duel Disk software had suddenly crashed. Kaiba looked at his brother. "Did you have any trouble with the Duel Disks when you were testing them earlier?"

Mokuba shook his head. "No, they were working perfectly. I've never seen it freeze up like that."

Kaiba frowned. This was a beta version of the newest upgrade and therefore it was likely to still have a few bugs, but never had the Duel Disks just frozen like that before. If this were to happen in a tournament, there'd be hell to pay. He looked up at the hologram of Blue-Eyes and realized it didn't seem frozen anymore—it was just waiting as if he'd never called an attack. "Hm. That's strange. Seems to be unfrozen now, though." He looked back over at Sara, who still was looking at the Blue-Eyes with anticipation. "Let's try this again, shall we? Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack her Life Points directly!"

Blue-Eyes reared back again, then roared as she usually did when she charged up her White Lightning attack, but Kaiba looked up, frowning again. Instead of the usual battle cry, her roar sounded almost plaintive, like the sound she made when being caught in Spellbinding Circle or when Change of Heart or a similar effect was used to take control of her away from him. Instead of attacking, she reared back further, then there was a huge spark and both his and Sara's Duel Disks shorted out, along with the rest of the power in the room. Blue-Eyes and Battle Ox both winked out of existence, leaving the testing room in darkness except for the two emergency lights that kicked in.

"Whoa, that was weird," Mokuba said, his voice echoing strangely in the now silent room.

"Clearly we need to have the techs look into this before we release the upgrade." Kaiba stripped the Duel Disk off his arm a little harder than necessary, frustrated. He walked across the room to Sara. "Nothing like that has ever happened with the Duel Disks before."

"That's… it's quite all right." She still looked a little dazed. "It was wonderful just seeing her, even if I couldn't see her attack."

Mokuba grinned at her. "It almost looked like Blue-Eyes just didn't want to attack you. She must like you."

Kaiba, however, was not so amused, if only because that is exactly what it had looked like to him as well.

* * *

Sara still felt like her blood was racing when they got back to the Kaibas' penthouse. Mokuba immediately made himself scarce, dashing off to his room the moment they were in the door, and being alone with Seto after what she had just seen made her feel a bit heady. Despite the unfortunate malfunction before she could see the it attack, the holographic image of the giant White Dragon hovering protectively over Seto as he summoned it to him had completely taken her breath away. Now, alone with him she couldn't get the arresting image out of her mind. Could it be just coincidence…?

Seto, on the other hand, seemed inordinately distracted by the glitch that had caused the hologram system to crash. He barely said two words on their way up to the penthouse, and now that Mokuba was gone, the silence covered them like a shroud.

"Thank you for showing me your White Dragon," she said, trying to get him out of his funk. "I wouldn't worry about the short in the system. It was an impressive display even without the last attack."

He gave her a guarded look she couldn't quite interpret. "It concerns me whenever our equipment doesn't work as it should. Tournament dueling depends heavily on Duel Disk technology and if that ever happened in a tournament, I don't even want to think about the fallout."

_It's only a game_, she thought, but decided that might be the wrong thing to say. Instead, she took a step toward the door. "Well, then. It is rather late. I should be getting back. We'll work on more texts tomorrow, then?"

He shook his head slightly, still looking distracted. "I have a lot of work tomorrow. I do have my own job to do, you know." She couldn't help but feel disappointed at that, but then he added, "I can't clear my schedule until the late afternoon, so come by around four."

"Right then. Four o'clock." She smiled, blushing slightly and inwardly admonishing herself for being so pleased. "I'll bring more scrolls with me." She took her coat of the coat rack near the door and slung it over her arm. "Tomorrow, then."

"Wait. Let me call for a car to take you home."

She rolled her eyes. "It's two blocks. I think I can manage the walk."

"It's late. You shouldn't walk alone. If you'd really rather walk, I can call for someone to escort you."

"Don't inconvenience yourself on my account," she said dryly.

"It's no trouble." He was either oblivious to her sarcasm or ignoring it.

Her curiosity got the better of her before he could pick up the phone. "Seto, can I ask you something?"

He looked at her with something almost like apprehension, but said, "Of course."

She put her coat down across the back of a chair and stepped closer to him. "Téa tells me that the creator of Duel Monsters was something of an ancient Egypt enthusiast, and that he based many of the monsters off of various Egyptian carvings and myths. Do you happen to know where your White Dragon comes from?"

His eyes hardened and he glared at her in a way that looked almost suspicious. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious." She was little taken aback by his reaction. "I—" She stopped, not sure where to begin. "There's a stone tablet in Giza. It depicts a conflict between the two pharaohs whose tombs were just desecrated. Each of the men is represented by a creature, a divine guardian of sorts. Atem's is a wizard, and Seto's is a dragon. Téa tells me Yugi's favorite card is based on the wizard in that carving and I was wondering if your White Dragon was based on it as well."

"I'm familiar with that tablet." He sounded as if he'd just swallowed ground glass. "The dragon is Blue-Eyes, yes."

She shook her head. "Remarkable. You share that pharaoh's name and you also share his guardian. It's like kismet or something."

His eyes darkened again. "I don't believe in kismet or fate or destiny or anything like that."

"Well, no, I don't really either, but it's a rather extraordinary coincidence considering you must have been playing the game longer than you've known you share that pharaoh's name. And it also explains why I was so drawn to your White Dragon when I saw her sculpture down in the lobby. That tablet is one of my favorites. In fact, it's the reason I chose to do my master's dissertation on that particular dynasty. There's just something about it, the way the dragon and the man are connected, it's just so _powerful_. And then when you summoned your dragon, even though she was only a hologram, it was so—" She suddenly realized what she was about to say and snapped her jaw closed, cheeks flushing. "Well, never mind, I'm being ridiculous." She looked down at the floor, unable to meet his eyes. "My mentor would call me a foolish romantic for being so taken by a stone carving."

"No, please go on." The reserve in his voice was gone so suddenly, her head snapped up in surprise. The coldness in his eyes was gone as well, and he was looking at her with open interest. "What were you going to say?"

"The bond between your and your dragon. It's only a card in a game, and yet, I could feel the power in the connection between the two of you." She felt breathless and tried to rein in her emotions, but he was standing so close to her now, and the way he was looking at her made it impossible. "You… I mean _it_… it was magnificent and—"

Whatever she had been about to say flew out of her mind when he suddenly grabbed her and kissed her. It wasn't halting and nervous, like she might expect from a first kiss between two virtual strangers, but was possessive and hungry. She almost pulled away from him in surprise, but she was quickly overcome by her overwhelming attraction to him. She found her arms winding around his neck, pulling him closer to her, and she kissed him back with a longing so deep it seemed almost as if it had been thousands of years in the making.


	9. Everything Changes

**9. Everything Changes**

Tristan hit the delete button and pounded his head on the desk above the keyboard in frustration. That was his fourth attempt at a reply to the e-mail he'd received from Paige, and each message he typed seemed worse than the last. Why was this so hard? It's not like he'd never talked to a girl before.

"Uh… the typing thing usually works better with your hands and not your face."

He turned around toward the library door and saw Serenity standing there. Grinning sheepishly, he snapped his fingers. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

She snorted and came over toward the computer station where he was sitting. "I couldn't sleep and saw the light on in here and thought maybe Yugi was working all night again."

"Nope. He's been out since he went to take a nap this afternoon. I'm hoping he'll be more himself when he wakes up."

"So what are you doing up?"

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep either. I thought as long as I was awake, I'd check my e-mails or something, but Duke is crashing on my couch—_again_—so I came out here to use the library computer."

She came up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. "No one's been sleeping right since the tombs were desecrated, have you noticed?"

"Yeah, I noticed. I was hoping it was just jetlag, and I guess it's only been two days, so that's gotta factor in. But still, I don't think it's just that. It seems to get worse every night instead of better."

"Well, at least we know it's not because of any Orichalcos stones. Not after scouring the place for them and coming up empty."

"Yeah, I know." He shook his head. "You know, maybe we're over-thinking this. It's probably just plain, old-fashioned grief, you know? I mean after what we saw—" He swallowed, unable to finish that thought, and turned back to face the computer monitor.

Serenity slipped her arms around him from behind, bending down so that her cheek was next to his. "I'm really sorry, Tristan. It must've been awful. Not just for Yugi, but for all of you."

He closed his eyes, settling back into his seat and into her embrace, letting himself enjoy this moment of closeness with her. He knew it probably wasn't the smartest thing; she'd made it clear she didn't want anything more than friendship, and he'd managed to get to the point where he was fine with that. This was pulling his emotions dangerously backwards toward that line, but he was weary and drained and it felt so good to be on the receiving end of the moral support for a change, especially after everything he'd seen in Atem's tomb. "Yeah. It was bad."

They stayed that way a moment longer, and then she released him and he allowed himself a pang of regret before taking a breath and letting it go.

She didn't go far, however; she pulled a nearby chair up right next to his and sat down beside him. "So whatcha looking at?"

"Just this e-mail from Paige."

"Oh." Her voice was uncharacteristically cool, and he looked at her, his eyebrow raised.

"You got a problem with Paige?"

Serenity avoided his gaze. "No, she's fine, I guess."

"But what?" And then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, you didn't get any weird vibes or anything?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh, no, nothing like that."

"Then what? You usually like everyone."

"I don't know. A bunch of little stupid things, I guess. She smokes an awful lot, for one thing. Doesn't that gross you out?"

Tristan shrugged. "Nah, it doesn't bug me. My mom smokes and about half the guys in my barracks smoked when I was in the army full-time. I'm used to it."

"And she's so… I don't know… overenthusiastic. All gushing over Yugi and Joey and everything like some lame fangirl."

"She wasn't _gushing_. She was enthusiastic, I'll give you that, but it's not like she was falling all over them or anything. She just hung out and talked with us like regular people after the initial reaction."

"She hung out and talked to _you_, you mean."

He offered her a sly grin. "You say that like it's a bad thing. I thought it was kinda nice, someone noticing me and not just Yugi and Joey 'cause they duel and I don't."

She chewed her lip a moment. "So you really like her then?"

"Well, I don't know about _really_ liking her; we only got to talk for like an hour. But I do like her, yeah. She's nice, and pretty, and we seem to have a lot in common. What's not to like?"

She regarded him thoughtfully a moment. "You tell me. You sound like something is giving you pause."

"You mean besides the fact that she lives over five thousand miles away?"

"Yeah, besides that."

He sighed, leaning back in his chair and lacing his fingers together at his chest. "I dunno. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to write back to her. I think… I dunno. Maybe it's because I can't be totally honest about everything going on here. It's just frustrating, trying to get to know someone new. When we had to go to Egypt all of a sudden because of this huge awful thing that happened to someone important to us, I could only tell Paige vague half-truths. If I'd tried to explain about Atem, she would've written me off as a total nutjob." He looked over at Serenity. "Does that ever bother you, not being able to really _talk_ to people who haven't been around a while?"

"I'm not really trying to get to know anyone new." She sounded oddly guarded. "I like things the way they are."

"Don't you ever wish you had someone who was more than a friend?"

She looked down, her hair falling around her face like a curtain. "I'm not ready for that."

He scoffed, shaking his head. "That's your brother talking. Don't listen to him—he's an idiot."

"Please, you think I don't know Joey's an idiot? He only _thinks_ he has a say in what I do." She paused, her hair still hiding her face. "It's not him, it's me. I'm too young to fall in love."

"You're almost nineteen. Since when is that too young?"

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "My mother was eighteen when she met my father. She was young and stupid, or at least that's how she tells it, and she let love blind her, and look how _that_ turned out."

He wasn't sure what to say to that. "Serenity, just because your mom made a mistake when she was your age doesn't mean you would make the same mistake. I know you. You wouldn't put up with that kinda crap from anyone. And you've got all your friends, too. We'd never let anyone treat you like your dad did. Besides," he said, a wide grin on his face, "no one who was that big of an asshole would bother sticking around long enough to get past Joey in the first place."

"This is true." She turned so that her hair fell away from her face as she gave him a small smile. It only lasted a moment before fading. "But I… I'm afraid of falling in love right now. There's so much going on, and so much I wanna do, like get my medical degree."

"It's not like you have to get married tomorrow or anything. You could just date, you know?"

She looked away from him again. "But if there were… someone special, if there was really something there, I'm afraid… I don't think I could just do things halfway. I think… I think if I really fell in love with someone, that would be it. And that scares me." Her voice sounded small, and he looked at her with concern.

"I wouldn't mind being in love, but you can't really get close to anyone when you can't share about what's going on in your life."

"Maybe you're better off not trying to get together with girls you don't know."

"Yeah, well the girls I do know aren't an option for me," he said pointedly.

She looked down at her hands in her lap. Speaking so softly he almost didn't hear her, she said, "Why can't everything just stay the same between us?"

His eyes widened. "What 'us'? There is no 'us' because you didn't want there to be an 'us,' remember?"

"I'm talking about Paige, okay?" The intensity of her answer came out of nowhere, startling him. "I don't want everything to change because of her!"

He gaped at her, dumbfounded. "What?"

He could tell she immediately regretted her outburst when she turned away from him. "It's nothing. Forget I said anything."

"No, now wait a second, I wanna know what you're talking about. What is going on with you?"

She turned back to face him. "You're like one of my closest friends, okay? And I don't want that to change." She sighed, tilting her head back slightly to look up at the ceiling. "People in relationships get so wrapped up, you know? You wouldn't have time to hang out with me anymore. And there'd be this whole thing about not wanting to be too close so she doesn't get the wrong idea. Everything would change, and I just don't want anything to change between us."

A part of him was flattered that she was this possessive of their friendship, but he was a little annoyed by it, too. "So, what, I'm not supposed to go out with anyone 'cause it might change our friendship? That's not really fair. I wanna date, okay? Even if it's someone thousands of miles away. And what about Duke? He's gone out with lots of girls, and that hasn't affected your friendship with him."

"Duke." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "He was never interested in me, not really. He just wanted to one-up _you_, that's all."

Tristan stared at her, his temper rising. "Oh, I get it now. Duke wasn't totally into you and you alone, so he can do what he wants, but me, I really liked you, so even though you're not interested in _me_, I'm not supposed to like anyone else 'cause then I wouldn't be hung up on _you_ anymore, and it's kinda nice having someone on a string like that, is that it? It's okay for Duke and Joey and Yugi to have relationships, but not me. No, I'm supposed to sit around and pine after you. That's just great, Serenity, thanks a lot!"

Her eyes widened in horror, and her mouth dropped. "What? I… no, that's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?"

"I… I…" She looked panicky. "I can't…"

"You can't what, Serenity? You can't let me move on? Why the hell not? _You_ don't want me!"

"I _do_ want you, that's just it!"

This completely caught him off guard. "You…? Wait. What?"

"_You_ are exactly what I'm afraid of, don't you get it? You are so… _everything…_ and I could _so_… but I can't, I just—"

He moved forward suddenly, his lips capturing hers and cutting her off. She went rigid for an instant, her hands flying to his shoulders as if to push him back, but instead she leaned into the kiss, setting fire to whatever remained of the barrier he'd built around his feelings for her and burning it to ashes. He pulled her closer, losing himself in her, but then she jerked away. "I can't…."

Very slowly, as if she were a frightened animal that might bolt, he reached out and cupped her cheek with his hand. "Serenity, I'm not your dad. I'm so not your dad that I'm the guy your brother's enlisted over the last seven years to keep _him _from becoming your dad, so I know what I'm talking about when I say I am nothing like him."

She met his gaze, her eyes large and sad. "I know."

"I would never hurt you."

"I know. It's not that."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

"I told you." Her eyes pleaded with him to understand. "I'm afraid everything will change and I'm not ready for it to. Not yet."

He stroked her cheek with his thumb. Her breath caught and she closed her eyes, and he had to swallow hard to fight back the urge to kiss her again. He licked his lips, still tasting her there. "Serenity, everything changes. No matter what we do, something's gonna change. I really like you. I could totally—" He shifted in his seat. "I really like you. If you… if you don't wanna be with me, I can live with that, I can. We can be friends and I'll get over it. But if you do… if you have feelings… then I want us to be together. It doesn't have to be serious or anything, just sort of see what happens. But the thing is, either way, things are gonna change. Because if you don't wanna try, if you don't wanna be with me, whatever the reason, I can't stay in this place."

Her eyes flew open. "What are you saying?"

He let his hand fall from her cheek to her shoulder. "I'm not saying we won't still be friends. You're too important to me to not be friends. But I can't stay hung up on someone just because there might be a possibility of maybe someday. That isn't a healthy place for me to be. So we can try or we can forget it, that's up to you, but if you don't wanna try, then I'm gonna see other people. And I don't mean that to sound like a threat or an ultimatum. It's just the way it is. I _like_ Paige, okay? Not like I like you, 'cause I don't know her like I know you. But I think maybe there could be something there, in spite of the distance, and I'd like to find out what that could be. Unless you give me a reason not to."

She closed her eyes once more and tears trickled down her cheeks. "I can't." She was so quiet he almost couldn't hear her. Almost. But he did hear her, and his heart sunk as she repeated her refusal. "I'm sorry, Tristan, I just can't."

He lowered his head and let his hand drop away from her shoulder. "Yeah, me too. I'm sorry too."


	10. The Wrong Memories

**10. The Wrong Memories**

He was standing on a pier, a Duel Disk on his arm, looking out across the open square of water to the dock on the other side where Yugi faced him with Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Beast of Gilford standing in front of him like a vanguard. Only, it wasn't Yugi who was his opponent.

His opponent was in his own head.

_GET OUTTA MY HEAD!_ Joey tried to scream, but the words stuck in his throat as he grabbed his head and fell to his knees. Only instead of landing on his knees, he landed on his face with a loud 'oof.' And instead of the wooden planks of the pier, he found himself sprawled out on expensive Berber carpeting.

"Wha?" He grunted, then opened his eyes, disoriented. He wasn't on a pier in Domino; he was in Mai's apartment in San Francisco. On the floor of her bedroom, to be precise. Which begged the question: how exactly had he ended up on the floor?

Jumping up, he immediately saw his answer. Mai was kneeling on the bed, thrashing wildly, still asleep and in the throes of another nightmare. "Mai!" He dove onto the bed and tried to grab her by the shoulders, but she pivoted away from him.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She swung at him with something she was holding in her hand. He ducked just in time, then coming in under whatever she'd just tried to bash him with, he tackled her around the waist, throwing her backwards on the bed, pinning her down with his weight. Her head hit the headboard with a crack that made him wince, but she didn't seem to notice. She just struggled beneath him as he grabbed for her arms and pinned them down. It was then that he saw what she'd tried to belt him with. _Her Duel Disk? What the hell…?_

"Mai, wake up!" He almost lost his grip on her hands as she bucked underneath him. "Wake up, Mai, you're having another nightmare!"

She continued to struggle a moment, then abruptly stopped. Sucking in a large breath, she opened her eyes. "What…?"

He let go of her arms and scooped her into an embrace. "It's over now. It was only a dream."

She said nothing, but went limp beneath him and he quickly rolled off of her, alarmed. As soon as he did, she sat up and gasped for air again.

"Mai?" He tried to bite down on his worry. "You're are awake now, aren't you?"

"Shit." She took another long breath, running her hand through her hair and pulling it back away from her forehead. "Shit! I am so sick of this." Pulling her knees up to her chest she bent over, one hand wrapping around her legs, the other supporting her forehead and holding back her hair.

"I know, baby, I know." He put his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't look at him or even acknowledge his presence. He frowned. "Mai?" There was no indication that she even heard him. She just continued to sit there, huddled into herself, and a sick feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. _"Mai?"_ he repeated, louder this time.

She looked up then, but she was looking through instead of at him. Panicking, he grabbed her shoulders. "Mai, what the hell is the matter with you?" Nothing. He shook her gently. "MAI!"

She blinked several times, and her face changed suddenly, her eyes focusing on him. "J…Joey? Is that you?"

He almost melted in relief. "Yeah, Mai, it's me, I'm right here." He pulled her into another embrace, and this time she responded, wrapping her arms around him. He buried his face in her hair. "I'm not going anywhere, Mai. Not ever. I promise."

* * *

It was well past midnight when Téa finally returned home, her arms full of the books she'd brought with her to the public library, and then to an all-night coffee shop when the library closed. She'd read through every one of them without finding so much as a hint at a ritual that might reverse what had been done to Atem's body and soul, which only increased the frustration she was already feeling. She dropped the books on the floor of the common room, intending to go up to bed, but she saw a light up in the library and figuring it was probably Yugi, turned around to go back to the elevator instead. She got about halfway there when she realized Sara was staying with her and was likely already asleep. She, on the other hand, was still too wired to even think about sleep. Changing directions again, she went back toward the offices and behind the staircase. 

Five minutes later, she was in the practice room wearing a crop top, leggings, and jazz shoes that she kept in a gym bag in her office. She selected something edgy and upbeat from the MP3 player in the built-in stereo system, cranking it up as loud as she dared in the middle of the night. She let the music fill her, pouring into every cell of her body until she was moving with it and there was nothing but the music and the dancing.

She let the MP3 player cycle through several songs. As she came to the end of the fourth or fifth song, she did a quick _pas de boureé_, ending in a flourish with a pirouette as the song finished. She came to a stop facing the door.

Yugi was there, leaning against the doorframe, watching her. Surprised, she straightened.

"You shouldn't have quit dancing," he said in the silence between songs. "You're too good."

The next song started, and she turned and went over to the stereo and flipped it off, grabbing a towel to wipe her neck in the process. "I told you before, I didn't quit. I just don't do it for a living anymore."

"Still… you make it seem so effortless, like the music _becomes_ you just so it can fully express itself."

She draped the towel around her neck, feeling too peevish from their talk the other night and two days of stewing about it to give him an inch. "What do you want, Yugi?"

"I want to thank you for talking Kaiba into helping with the Egyptian texts. I really appreciate it."

Téa shrugged. "It was no big deal. You just gotta understand Kaiba's priorities if you want to get him to do the right thing, that's all."

"Still, getting his help was a very big deal. Thank you."

"Is that all?" She suddenly felt tired.

He looked down at his feet. "No. I also want to apologize."

"Well don't," she said, and his head popped up in surprise, but she was feeling petty enough to not care.

"Téa—"

"Just don't, Yugi." Then the bitterness gave way to something deeper and a little more raw. "I know you. You don't like conflict, so you swallow everything that bothers you to smooth things over, and that isn't going to help. This is obviously a real problem, so please don't smooth it over and pretend it isn't there."

He shook his head slowly. "I can't do that. I couldn't smooth it over if I tried."

She huffed out a breath, stung again. "Then why are you here?"

"Because I owe you an apology. I'm frustrated and angry with myself, and I took it out on you. That wasn't fair, and I'm sorry."

"Okay, so you apologized. Now go to bed. You can't keep going without sleep."

"I just woke up, actually. I've been sleeping since lunch."

"Well I'm glad. I, on the other hand, haven't slept well since before we left Luxor, so if you'll excuse me—"

"Téa, I'm losing my memories."

She stopped and looked at him. "What?"

"The memories from… the memories from him, from our time together. I first noticed it around New Year's Eve, and it's been getting worse every day. I can't remember him anymore. I can't feel him, Téa. He's just _gone_."

The raw anguish on his face melted some of her anger. "That must be why you felt what was happening all the way in London. It makes sense, I guess."

"No, you don't understand." His voice sounded ragged. "It doesn't make any sense at all. I'm losing the _wrong_ memories."

She frowned, cocking her head. "What do you mean, the wrong memories?"

"I've lost all the wrong things, like… like… I don't remember how we met."

"How who met? You and I?" Her eyes widened in surprise and confusion. "What do you mean, you don't remember how we met? We were ten. You gave me that handheld game and I—"

"Yes, yes." He waved impatiently. "I know all that."

"But you just said—"

"I _know_ how we met, but I don't _remember_. I know it the way I know how Joey's mom took Serenity away when they were kids because I've heard the story so many times. But I don't remember how you and I met like I was _there_. Same with how Joey and Tristan and I became friends—Joey taking the Puzzle piece and bringing it back. I know the story, but I don't _remember_ any of it." He gave her a piercing look. "But what I do remember is what happened afterwards. I remember Ushio. I remember being _furious_ at him for what he'd done, and I remember challenging him to a Dark Game. A Dark Game! You and Joey and Tristan I don't remember, but I remember _Ushio_."

Téa's frown deepened. "But that wasn't even y—" And then she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes suddenly feeling the size of dinner plates.

"It wasn't even _Yugi_," he finished for her. "It's Yugi's memories that are gone."

She tried to swallow, but her mouth went suddenly dry. "Yugi, you're scaring me."

He closed his eyes, his voice thick again. "I'm scaring myself. I can't be… it doesn't make sense. But I'm losing touch with the part of me that is Yugi, and do you have any idea what I'm—what _Atem_ is like without Yugi?" He opened his eyes and met her gaze again. "Do you understand the things… the things Atem has done? Challenging a teenager to a Dark Game? A despicable, nasty teenager, yes, but still a teenager. He lost his _mind_ in that game because of the _mighty Pharaoh_." He practically spat the word. "Because the _Pharaoh_ is a god, you see. He's not beholden to right and wrong like the rest of the mere mortals. No, he _defines_ it. He is judge, jury, and… _retribution_."

"Stop it." She was starting to feel sick.

"Why? It's true, isn't it? And it was more than just Ushio, too. There were others. Others who lost their minds. Others who _died_. Others who could have. Joey's old friend Hirutani, remember him?"

She shook her head, choking back tears. "He was a horrible, horrible person…"

"He _was_, but that doesn't make it _right_. What if—" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "What if Joey had never taken that Puzzle piece? Have you ever thought about what might have happened then? What if… what if Yugi had put the Puzzle together _before_ Ushio. What do you think would've happened if the _almighty Pharaoh_ had decided it was _Joey_ who was the bully? That it was _Joey_ who needed to get his comeuppance in a Dark Game?"

"STOP IT!" She felt like screaming, but she just squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away from him.

"And what about Kaiba? It was his decision to stand on that damned wall. He deserved to fall, right?"

"But he didn't fall!" Her eyes flew open again and she faced him, defiant. "He didn't because you stopped the attack!"

"_Yugi_ stopped the attack."

"Just stop it! You _are_ Yugi! And you're wrong about Atem! He wasn't like what you're saying, and you know it! No one loved him like you did, not even—" She shook her head. "I don't understand how you can say these things. Maybe things were rough in the beginning because not even he understood what was going on, but not in the end. He _changed_. Like Joey changed, and Tristan. Like Pegasus and Marik and Bakura."

"Because of _Yugi_. All because of _Yugi_. Because of who Yugi _is_. And the two of us, the longer we were together the more like each other we became. Yin and yang, light and dark. We completed each other, but the more like each other we became, the more separate we became until one of us had to _go_. But if it's _Yugi_ who's gone, if somehow I did something, if I made it so that the shadows took him instead of me, just like the Orichalcos—" He closed his eyes and slid slowly down the wall, lowering his head onto his knees.

"No." Téa clenched her hands into tight fists, setting her jaw. "No. It can't be." Except… Yugi would never say things like this about Atem, not ever. She blinked, trying not to let her reality slip out from under her feet. Slowly, she fought for control of herself. "But even if… even if it were somehow true and it's Yugi who… and you're… even if that were true, you've already fought this battle. Remember Death Valley? Remember how you… how the Pharaoh dueled Yugi and it was Yugi who was dark, remember? That was the whole _point_ of that duel, to show you that you… to show _the Pharaoh_ that it wasn't as simple as one being dark and the other pure light. You're the _same_."

"We're _not_ the same, and it matters which one of us is here!"

She stared at him, tears tracing twin path down her cheeks. "I didn't mean… oh, God, Yugi, of course it matters! But it _can't_ be true. It doesn't make any sense. How could you have just switched places like that?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I can only remember how to think and feel and be like Atem, and the part of me that is Yugi is gone."

"No. It… it has to be some sort of… effect. Like the Orichalcos. Like—" A sudden thought occurred to her. "Wait. Didn't you tell me once that this happened to you before, when you were on that dig in Egypt?"

He shook his head. "Not like this. That was bad, and I did feel disconnected and like I was somehow losing myself, but I didn't feel like _this_. It's more like the Orichalcos again, and Yugi is just _gone_."

"_You're_ Yugi. You _have_ to be Yugi."

"I hope so." He looked up at her and it was the Pharaoh's gaze that met hers, not Yugi's. It really was the Orichalcos all over again and she almost burst into a fresh round of tears.

"Oh, my God." She swallowed, her throat burning with the bile she forced back down. "What are we going to do?"

"We have to get him back. Somehow, some way, we have to get him back."


	11. Morning After

**11. Morning After**

Sara groaned as sun filtered into the room through half-drawn blinds. Opening her eyes, she looked around the unfamiliar surroundings and tried to get her bearings. Where was she?

Then the previous night came back to her, and she groaned louder, putting her hand to her forehead. Rolling sideways, she saw that the place beside her in the massive bed was empty—somehow not surprising—and she sat up, resting her head in her hand. What had she been _thinking_, sleeping with this man after knowing him for all of eight hours? Just because he reminded her of an Egyptian carving? Was she mad?

Actually, it wasn't just the carving that he reminded her of, and that bothered her more than anything. It was her dragon dreams. When he'd summoned his holographic dragon, he'd looked as if he'd walked straight out of one of her dreams, where dragon and man were connected so inextricably. And for that, she'd slept with him. Although… she did have to admit it was the most incredible sex she'd ever had in her life. Just thinking about it, thinking about _him _made her flush and her heart start to race.

"Argh! No!" She shouted out loud, pulling at her hair. "This is so _wrong_. You're an idiot, Sara Drake. An idiot and a cheap tart."

She looked around his expansive bedroom, trying to work out what to do next. It was a luxurious room, but in sort of a sparse way, with expensive blinds and carpet and furniture, all black and very masculine, but cold and distant. It was so very Seto, and definitely a rich bachelor's room. _Rich, attractive, attitude to spare, and an ego the size of England_, she thought, shaking her head. _He probably has a new girl every night. No doubt there's a note somewhere:_ Thanks for the good time. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

As it turned out, there was no note, but he had left out a set of towels in the bathroom for her, and he had a tub the size of a small swimming pool. She considered a bath, but she had no clean clothes to change into. _Which means I get to go back to Yugi's in the same clothes. Lovely_. She groaned again, furious with herself. And to make matters worse, she was a guest in Téa's home and she'd stayed out all night without even bothering to ring and let her know. Hopefully, they were all so absorbed in trying to find a ritual for the two pharaohs that they hadn't missed her or worried.

She eyed the towels, which looked thick and soft, and decided cleaning up first might at least help temper the slag-coming-home-the-morning-after impression she was sure to make walking in the door. A quick shower then, and after she could slink home and hope none of them really noticed her absence. Téa had said the elevator went up to the top floor where their flats were, so she wouldn't have to come in through the common room. That was something, anyway.

She showered quickly, towel dried her hair and clipped it back, then dressed and headed out, hoping she could find her way back to the front door of the huge, maze-like penthouse. She made it as far as the dining room when she stopped short.

Mokuba was sitting at the table eating breakfast. He looked up right as she stopped. "Oh hey, Sara. Seto had to go to work, but there're some bagels and cream cheese and fruit if you want some. And tea and coffee."

"Uh… thank you, no, I don't want to be a bother. I'll just be on my way." She could feel her cheeks getting hot, and wasn't sure which was worse, that she had been caught out by a fifteen-year-old who could not have missed the fact that she'd spent the night with his brother, or that he was so blasé about it, as if it were a regular occurrence for strange women to wake up in his home.

Mokuba shrugged. "It's no bother. It'd be nice to have some company, actually. I've been so bored ever since we got back from London, what with school still out and Rebecca in Boston and everything."

She cocked her head, trying to puzzle out the teenager. At times he seemed to be younger than he really was, especially the way he clearly idolized his brother even while adopting an attitude of teenage apathy. Although given the little bit Seto had told her about their childhood, she supposed it wasn't surprising that he would venerate the one person in his life who'd given a damn about him.

Other times, like now, he seemed much more mature than an average fifteen-year-old. In all the things he'd shared with her at dinner, the only friend he'd mentioned his own age was Professor Hawkins' granddaughter, and considering she was a college graduate at fourteen, she could hardly be considered a typical teen. Everyone else in Mokuba's life seemed to be Seto's peers or employees. She thought it must be lonely for a kid to spend his whole life in an adult world.

When she didn't answer him, Mokuba continued to try and ply her with bagels and cream cheese. "Come on, there's too much food here for me to eat by myself. The maid always lays out a spread like we're having a breakfast meeting for twenty instead of just the two of us."

"All right." It wasn't like he didn't already know she'd spent the night; what was the harm in breakfast? She slipped into a seat beside him and picked up a sesame seed bagel and spread some strawberry cream cheese on it. "Did you mention tea?"

"Yep." He was already pushing his chair back. "Green, herbal, or black?"

"I'm British, aren't I?"

He grinned. "Black it is. I think it's even some English brand Seto has imported."

"If you tell me it's PG Tips, I'll love you forever."

"You know what? I think that's it." He trotted off to the kitchen, returning a minute later with a teapot, a mug, and several bags of her favorite tea.

"Brilliant!" She put a teabag in her mug, smiling at him as she poured the steaming water over it. Then, a thought occurred to her, and she looked around. "Are we the only ones here?"

"Yeah. I told you, Seto went to work."

"Oh yes, I know, but you mentioned a maid. I guess I expected servants or something in a place like this."

"Nah, Seto's kind of independent. Doesn't like having too many people around. He's got his personal assistant, Roland, and a whole bunch of flunkies at work, but at home he likes it with no one else around. The maid comes in every morning and cleans and lays out stuff for breakfast." He indicated the breakfast spread with a nod of his head. "And sometimes one of the chefs from Shiroki Ryu comes and cooks, but mostly we eat out or order in. And there are drivers and stuff like that, but no live-in help, not here anyway. It's too small."

Sara choked. "You call this _small_? My flat in Cairo could fit in here a hundred times over."

"Well, small compared to the mansion in Domino. There's a whole staff there, but we spend most of our time here these days."

"Sounds lonely. Especially if Seto works so much."

He shrugged. "Nah, it's a lot better than it used to be when I was little. Gozaburo—uh, that was our adopted father—he never let us spend time together, and was always making _Nii-sama_ study and work."

"_Nii-sama_?"

"Japanese for _Big Brother_."

Sara nodded. "Seto told me a little bit about him. Your father, I mean. Sounds like a _lovely_ man."

Mokuba made a face. "Oh yeah, he was a real sweetheart."

"And Seto really took over the company from him when he was only sixteen?"

Mokuba looked at her in surprise. "He told you that? He doesn't usually talk about it."

"Really? I would think that's exactly the sort of thing he'd enjoy boasting about to anyone who would care to listen."

She was surprised and a little disconcerted to see Mokuba's face darken until it was almost as cold as his brother's. "Not really, no."

Her curiosity was piqued, but it was clear that Mokuba didn't want to discuss it, so she changed track. "So how did you two end up with this Gozaburo bloke anyway? Was he an uncle or something?"

"No," Mokuba said, the darkness lifting from his expression to be replaced by a more normal look of distaste. "He came to the orphanage where we were living to throw his money around and make it look like he gave a damn about the poor little orphans. Seto decided he was our ticket out of there."

"Seto decided, did he?" Sara couldn't help but smirk, imagining a ten-year-old Seto Kaiba _deciding_ who would adopt him. "And how exactly did he make Gozaburo see things his way?"

"He beat him in a chess game."

Sara gaped at him. How was it that this man could continually surprise her? "He… beat him in a chess game? And how did that get you two adopted?"

"Gozaburo was this big-shot chess champion, so Seto challenged him to a game, saying that if he won, Gozaburo would have to adopt both of us. Gozaburo didn't want to look bad, declining a challenge from a little kid, so he accepted, and Seto beat him."

Sara shook her head in amazement. "He won your adoption in a chess match." Then she had a sudden flash of déjà-vu. Frowning, she tried to work out why. "You know, this story sounds vaguely familiar. Has it been in the press or something?"

Mokuba snorted. "Not hardly. Gozaburo was humiliated, and Seto doesn't ever give interviews about anything that happened at Kaiba Corp prior to his taking over."

"Hm, I wonder why it seems familiar then." She stirred her tea, contemplative. "Did he ever regret it, given what kind of person Gozaburo turned out to be?"

"Please. Seto would have to look up _regret_ in the dictionary just to know what it means. And it was all good in the long run anyway."

"I suppose it was." Still, she couldn't help but feel sad for the two of them, robbed of their childhood.

Mokuba put down the last bite of his bagel. "Hey, I was thinking that when you go back to Illusions Tower, I could go back with you and help you carry back the scrolls and stuff that you finished and maybe help them out over there for a while."

As soon as he mentioned going back to the place where she was supposed to be staying, Sara moaned, letting her head fall forward onto the table in front of her. "Oh, no, I keep forgetting. They didn't even know I was staying out all night. Terribly thoughtless of me. I really should be getting back."

"Why don't you just call and let them know you're here?"

Sara looked up at him with one eye, shamefaced. "I, uh… was hoping to make a more subtle return. I'm staying in Téa's flat, so perhaps only she realized I was gone. I do feel awful, not letting them know."

Mokuba brushed off her concern with a wave of his hand. "It's no big. I'll take care of it," he said, getting up out of his chair again.

She looked up in alarm. "Mokuba, what are you—no, Mokuba, don't!"

She stood up quickly and tried to reach for him as he picked up the phone and dialed something on speed dial, but he twisted out of her reach. Holding up his finger to her, he spoke into the phone. "Hey… Tristan? Yeah, it's Mokuba. Hope I didn't wake you. … Okay, good. I just wanted to let you guys know Sara Drake is over here. … Yeah, well you know how Seto is; he thinks three hours of sleep is too much. We were up like half the night and fell asleep on the couch." He winked at her.

She let her head bang back down onto the table. _I shagged a man I just met, and his fifteen-year-old brother is covering for me. Kill me now._

He laughed at something Tristan said. "I know, but personally, I think he was afraid Téa would come back and chew him out again." He laughed again. "No kidding! So anyway, Seto of course woke up hours ago and went to work, but me and Sara just dragged ourselves up, and she feels really bad that she didn't call to let you guys know where she was, but we just didn't expect to fall asleep like that. …. Well, that's cool. We're getting some breakfast now, and then we're gonna both head over there. I was thinking I could help you guys out, if that's okay. I figure I kinda owe it to the other Yugi, considering he once did the same for me, you know? … Okay, cool. See you in a bit, then. 'Bye."

He hung up the phone, and she looked up at him to see him grinning at her. "See? No big."

"Well, thank you. I think." Then she sat up all the way. "Mokuba, what's all this about 'the other Yugi.'" You mentioned it last night, too."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I should call him Atem, but I can't get used to it. I think I'll always think of him as the other Yugi. Or the Pharaoh."

Her brow furrowed in puzzlement. "I don't understand. Why would you call Atem 'the other Yugi'?"

"For a while, that's all we knew about him. Well, I didn't even find out about him until way after the others, of course. I know it all started when Yugi put together the Millennium Puzzle, and he didn't even know the other Yugi was there at first, but by the time I found out about him, they knew he was a pharaoh and that's about it. They didn't learn his real name until just before he left for good. Mostly I couldn't tell the difference between them, at least not until the whole Orichalcos thing, and then it was kinda obvious once Yugi's soul was gone. But anyway, I always just called him 'Yugi.'"

She blinked, having another one of those surreal moments where she felt as if she were listening to some secret code for which she didn't have the key. "Mokuba, I have no idea what the devil you're on about."

He shrugged. "Maybe you just had to see it to understand. When the Pharaoh took over, it didn't really seem any different to us, not at first. He looked like Yugi, sounded like Yugi… well, his voice was deeper, I guess, and his eyes got sort of… intense, but we always figured it was kind of a dueling thing. I'm not even sure when I realized he was two different people. The end of Battle City, I guess, with Yugi chained up like that while the Pharaoh dueled Marik. That was creepy." He popped the last bite of bagel into his mouth as if he'd just given her the weather report.

She stared at him. "You sound like you're saying Yugi was… possessed by Atem's spirit or something."

"I don't know if I'd use the word 'possessed.' They were more like partners."

Partners? "_Aibou_…."

Mokuba looked at her in surprise. "I didn't know you knew Japanese."

"I don't. It's a word Yugi used, and someone else translated it for me. But that's not what he meant by '_aibou_,' is it? He couldn't possibly believe Atem's spirit _possessed_ him."

Mokuba frowned at her. "You didn't know about this already?"

"Know about this? Are you mad?" And then another thought occurred to her. "I suppose you're also going to tell me that the Pharaoh Seto possessed your brother?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that." Mokuba laughed. "No way _Nii-sama_ would go for that. But we think he was probably his past life."

"Past life." She shook her head. "Mokuba, you do realize how absurd it is."

He gave her a completely unperturbed look. "Yeah, but it is what it is. Only, if you didn't know Atem was the other Yugi, why are you here, helping to look for a way to save him from the Shadow Realm?"

"I—" She tried to say something rational, some reason that made more sense than the spirit of an ancient pharaoh that had been dead for thousands of years possessing a young man, but there was nothing she could say. She was here because she used to regularly dream she was a dragon, and once she dreamed that that dragon protected an Egyptian priest who resembled a figure in a stone carving. And to top it off, she'd just slept with a man because he shared that priest-turned-pharaoh's name and a connection to a dragon that reminded her of the one in her dreams.

Who was she to call anyone else mad?

"I'm here because it seemed like the right thing to do," she said after a moment.

He accepted that with a nod and a smile. "Yeah, me too. Well, that and the other Yugi saved me from the Shadow Realm once, so I kinda owe him. I figure we can go over to Illusions Tower together, and I can come back with you when you meet up with Seto this afternoon."

At the mention of meeting up with Seto, she felt her cheeks getting warm again. How awkward would that be to see him again? He hadn't even bothered to leave a note for her; surely he had no interest in seeing her again. And then it struck her that they'd made the appointment before… well, just before. He probably was planning on canceling anyway.

"I don't know, Mokuba. He sounded rather busy. I don't think I'll be working with him tonight."

Mokuba frowned. "That's not what he told me. He said you were meeting him at his office at four."

She raised her eyebrows. "He said that? When? This morning?"

"Yeah. I saw him when he was on his way out. Why?" Mokuba was giving her a quizzical look. "That is what you guys agreed on, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, but he also mentioned how busy he was and I thought maybe… well, never mind," she said looking down and taking a bite of bagel to mask her embarrassment. What would she say to him? And was she so uncomfortable because she didn't want to see him, or maybe because she actually wanted to see him rather a lot?


	12. Lost

**12. Lost**

"Hey, Rip Van Winkle awakens!"

"What?" Yugi slipped onto a stool at the island in the common kitchen. He'd come in search of coffee, but Tristan was at the stove making breakfast again—pancakes, from the smell of it—and he realized he was very hungry. Not surprising, since he'd slept through dinner.

"Rip Van Winkle. American fairy tale about a guy who slept for twenty years." Tristan flipped the pancakes, then looked over his shoulder. "You feeling any better?"

"I… yes, I suppose I am." He still felt shell-shocked from the loss of the wrong memories, but the sleep had definitely done him some good. "Well-rested, anyway, and a little more clear-headed."

"Good. Want some pancakes?"

"Absolutely. I'm starving. And please tell me there's coffee."

"I put a pot on to brew a few minutes ago. Should be ready soon."

"Thank you."

"Oh, I almost forgot." Tristan looked at him over his shoulder again. "Mokuba just called. Sara stayed over with them last night. I guess Kaiba had them pulling an all-nighter, and they fell asleep on him."

Yugi's brow furrowed. "Kaiba wanted to work all night? On this? I'd expect that of him on his own work, but considering Téa had to twist his arm to get him to help at all, it seems a bit odd."

"Mokuba said he thought Kaiba was afraid Téa would go back and chew him out again." Tristan chuckled and Yugi tried to find amusement in that image as well, but picturing a pissed-off Téa wasn't exactly hilarious at the moment.

Tristan slipped some pancakes onto a plate and brought them over to the island, setting them in front of Yugi, He hesitated a moment beside him. "Speaking of Téa, I was up pretty late last night, and I never saw her come in. Think we should check on her?"

Yugi shook his head. "I saw her when she came in last night. Let her sleep. She… she's had a couple of rough days."

Tristan frowned. "I thought _you_ were asleep all night."

"I slept until sometime around midnight, and then got up for a little bit. She was just coming in." He saw Tristan eyeing him with concern, so he was quick to add, "But I did go back to sleep not long after that. I didn't stay up and work all night, if that's what you're worried about."

Tristan sat down on a stool across from him. "That's not all I'm worried about. I don't mean to pry, but are things okay with you and Téa? Everything's been so tense since Egypt, and Serenity said you guys had a fight or something, which is totally not like you two."

Yugi sighed. Choosing his words carefully, he said, "I hope that in the long run everything will be fine, but what happened has made things very… complicated right now."

Tristan nodded. "Listen, Yugi, I know I'm not Joey or anything, but you know I'm here for you, don't you? If you wanna talk about it…."

Yugi felt another pang of guilt for neglecting his friends. "Tristan, there's nothing I would tell Joey that I wouldn't tell you. You both are my closest friends; I hope you know that. I couldn't have made it through everything in Luxor without you guys. I know I've been… distant lately, but it's just because I feel lost with my… my other self in the Shadow Realm, and I'm terrified we won't find a way to fix it."

"We will, dude, no doubt about it." Tristan squeezed Yugi's arm before getting up and returning to the stove. "Coffee should be ready now."

"Thanks. And not just for the coffee and food."

He went over to the coffeepot and was pouring himself a mug when Serenity came in. She stopped short in the door, looking a little stiff and hesitant. "Uh… good morning."

Yugi looked up and thought he saw her exchanging an uncomfortable look with Tristan, but it was gone in an instant, and Tristan was giving her a friendly smile. "Morning, Serenity. Want some pancakes?"

She smiled in return, but it was somewhat faltering. "Yeah, I'd like that." She slipped onto the stool beside the one Yugi was using as Tristan served up some more pancakes.

Yugi sat back down with his coffee, stirring it idly. "Not that I don't appreciate it, Tristan, but you don't have to keep cooking for us."

"Nah, I like cooking breakfast. After two years of army food, I like being able to make something myself that doesn't come out of a little foil package."

Pancakes delivered, he headed back to the stove just as Joey slumped in, hair damp and hanging limply around his face as if he'd already showered, although it obviously hadn't done much to revitalize him. He poured himself onto the stool opposite Serenity and sagged down onto the table, mumbling something unintelligible.

Tristan shook his head as he spooned more batter onto the griddle. "Bro, you look like ten miles of bad road. You need some coffee?"

"Yeah, just pour it through a funnel right into my mouth."

Yugi leaned forward over his plate. "Are you all right, Joey? You're not still sick, are you?"

"I didn't get any sleep."

Yugi blew out a breath of air frustration. "There's been too much of that going around. Listen, you guys have already burned through most of the English and Japanese books. Why don't you take a break today, Joey?"

Joey raised himself up on his elbows. "That's not why I didn't sleep. We've got a huge problem, guys."

Tristan put down the bowl of batter. "Oh good. I was just thinking we didn't have enough problems right now."

"Did Mai have another nightmare?" Serenity asked.

Yugi's eyes widened as he looked from Serenity to Joey. "Mai's having nightmares again?"

The phone rang at that moment. Joey was sitting nearest to it, so he held up a finger to Yugi as he reached for it. "Hold that thought." Into the receiver, he said, "Yo, Joey Wheeler here. Talk to me."

His eyes widened and his expression lightened to something approximating a smile as he shot Tristan an appraising look. "Oh, hey, _Paige_."

Serenity stiffened, and she and Tristan exchanged another tense look.

Joey was making faces at Tristan as he talked on the phone. "Eh, it wasn't a great trip. But he's mostly better now, yeah. … Yeah, he's right here. Hold on a sec." He hit the mute button on the receiver. "Oh, Tristan, _Paige_ is on the phone for you," he said in a singsong voice like a second grader accusing a classmate of liking girls.

Tristan and Serenity held their gaze a moment more before Serenity dropped her eyes to the counter in front of her as if conceding a contest. Tristan lowered his eyes a moment, too, then turned to Joey and grabbed the cordless phone away from him. "Gimme that."

"Ooooh, Tristan's gotta crush!"

Tristan stared daggers at him. "You have no idea what a colossal jerk you are. I'll take it in my office." He thumbed off the mute button and put the receiver to his ear. "Hey, Paige. … No, it's not too early. I'm really glad to hear from you." He sounded cheerful as he walked out of the kitchen to get some privacy.

Joey was beaming. Well, not really beaming because he still looked like hell, but he definitely looked satisfied. "I _knew_ they was hitting it off before we had to leave London."

Serenity stood up abruptly. "I'm gonna go get started reading. There're still a few Japanese books left to look through."

As she started to head out of the kitchen, Mai walked in. Joey's amused grin fell from his face and was replaced by an anxious look.

"Morning, Serenity. Morning, Yugi. Tell me there's coffee." Mai was already dressed and her face made up, but her tired wave and weary voice belied her lively appearance.

"There's coffee." Serenity arched her eyebrow at Joey as Mai made her way to the coffee pot.

"Mai?" All amusement was gone from Joey's face, and his voice was tight and dry. "How you feeling this morning?"

Mai continued pouring her coffee, not even bothering to look in his direction.

Joey clenched his jaw. "Mai?"

She turned, her coffee mug in her hand, and looked at Yugi and Serenity. "Okay, kiddos, I'm gonna go give the French another go. It's become a personal challenge to crack it." And then she walked out of the room without so much as sparing Joey a glance.

Yugi and Serenity both turned to Joey, and Serenity shot him an accusing glare. "Whoa. What did you do?"

"I didn't do nothing!"

"Yeah right. Must've been some fight for her to be ignoring you like that."

"I _wish_ it was just a fight." Joey looked pale. "It's not me."

"What is it, Joey?" Yugi asked.

Joey's gaze went from Yugi to Serenity. "Go ask her if she's seen Téa this morning."

Serenity and Yugi exchanged confused looks, and Serenity frowned at Joey. "Téa? Why?"

He jerked his head toward the doorway. "Just ask her."

Still baffled, Serenity headed out into the common room, Joey and Yugi getting up to stand in the doorway behind her and listen.

Mai was settling onto the couch with a book in her hand as Serenity approached her. "Hey Mai, have you seen Téa this morning?"

Mai turned to look at her. "Huh?"

"Téa. Have you seen her this morning? I just wanted to make sure she got in okay last night."

"Hon, I don't know what you're talking about." There was a sort of blank look in Mai's eyes that bothered Yugi. He glanced at Joey, whose lips were pressed into a tight line.

Serenity glanced over her shoulder at them before turning back to Mai. "You know Téa? Brunette? Dancer? Likes to give pep talks? Went out in a huff the day before yesterday and we haven't seen much of her since?"

Mai's brow furrowed, then she shook her head and, without answering, turned back to her book.

Yugi, and Joey retreated back into the kitchen with Serenity close behind them. Joey glared at her. "You think she had a fight with Téa, too?"

"_Onii-chan_…."

"Joey, what's going on?" Yugi asked. "Is this what you were going to tell us when the phone rang?"

Joey nodded. "It took me all night to figure it out. Last night, she had another nightmare and was thrashing around so bad, she knocked me out of bed and then grabbed her Duel Disk and almost flattened me with it. All without waking up. And then when I did wake her up, she was looking right through me like I wasn't there. I had to shake her to get her to see me. After she went back to sleep, I was too freaked out to sleep myself, and then I finally figured out where I'd seen this before."

"Battle City," Yugi said, his eyes widening as he remembered.

Joey nodded. "Mai's duel with Marik. Every time she lost Life Points, she lost her memories of one of her friends. I was the second she lost."

"And Téa was first." Yugi's shoulders slumped.

"And that's when I realized she was completely oblivious to Téa's presence the last couple of days." Joey looked at Serenity. "Remember the total hissy fit Téa threw about Kaiba not wanting to help, and how Mai completely missed it? Then later when I mentioned something about Téa, she gave me that same blank look she just gave you now."

Serenity's eyes widened and she turned and went back out into the living room. Rounding the couch, she sat down beside Mai. Joey and Yugi followed.

"Mai? I need to talk to you a minute."

"Sure, hon. What's up?"

Instead of answering her, Serenity put her hand on Mai's arm and closed her eyes. She frowned and then opened her eyes, looking over Mai's shoulder toward Yugi and Joey. "It feels like when Yugi felt the attack on the Pharaoh. Like she's connected by a thread to the Shadow Realm."


	13. Darkness Within

**13. Darkness Within**

Pushing down his own anger, Yugi put his hand on Joey's shoulder to steady his friend as Mai jerked away from Serenity. "What?"

"Something's going on with you, Mai. I can feel a connection to the Shadow Realm."

Joey seemed to have heard all he could take. He vaulted over the back of the couch to land on the other side of Mai from Serenity. Getting right in Mai's face, he took her by the shoulders. "Mai! Snap out of it!"

She started as if she'd been drifting off and a sudden noise had awoken her. "Joey? What's going on?"

Joey relaxed as soon as she said his name, but not completely. "It happened again. You walked right by me like I wasn't even here."

Mai leaned back, her hand to her forehead. "Shit."

"It's gone," Serenity said. "The thread to the shadows. It felt… like it broke when Joey shook her." She looked at Mai. "Do you remember Téa now?"

Mai took her hand away from her head and glared at Serenity. "What kind of question is that?"

Joey shifted closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "You're blanking out on her, too. Serenity just asked you if you'd seen Téa this morning, and you didn't have a clue what she was talking about."

Yugi came around the side of the couch and crouched down in front of her. "When did the nightmares start again?"

She looked at Joey, and he nodded to her. "We can't ignore this, Mai."

Sighing, she turned back to Yugi. "Since the night you four left for Egypt."

"The night after the attack on the tombs?"

She nodded.

"Has it been every night since then?"

"Yeah. They're getting worse, too. And before you suggest it, I don't think Valon had anything to do with it. I thought so at first, but I went through his room pretty thoroughly, and he didn't have any Orichalcos stones. He genuinely seemed to not know anything about Ramesses or about why I keep having the nightmares."

Serenity sat back and tucked her legs up under her. "That, and we know it isn't because of any Orichalcos stones here. Tristan, Joey, and I searched the place yesterday and came up empty."

This took Yugi by surprised. "You searched the penthouse for Orichalcos stones? Why didn't you say anything?"

Joey and Serenity exchanged uneasy looks, and Joey winced. "Not for nothing, pal, but you haven't exactly been yourself, either. Between you barking at everyone all the time and keeping everyone at arm's length, plus Mai's nightmares, it seemed logical to think somehow there might be some Orichalcos stones involved."

"I—" Yugi rocked back on his heels, ashamed of his recent behavior. "You're right, Joey. I've been too self-absorbed the last few days. I'm sorry."

Joey shrugged. "Nah, it's understandable. What happened to the Pharaoh is huge."

"This is, too. My friends are just as important. I'm sure my… my other self would agree and wouldn't approve of me neglecting you all for him. Besides, there must be a connection here." He looked at Mai. "The timing is too coincidental, especially considering the fact that the last time you had nightmares was the last time we were being attacked by something from the outside."

Mai shook her head. "This is different, though. When it started, it was the same old thing with the sand and the hourglass, and no one could hear me. Then it would sort of morph into the end of the Orichalcos duel. The one where I… the one with Joey. But the last two nights, it didn't start with the sand. It was just the Orichalcos duel. And they've been a lot more vivid and, well… disturbing."

"The same two nights I've been back." Joey looked ready to punch something. "I seem to be making it worse. And she's kind of half awake, too. And you almost clocked me with your Duel Disk."

Yugi's brow furrowed. "She's dreaming she's in a duel, so she reaches for her Duel Disk in real life. But something's odd about that. You're specifically dreaming about your duel with Joey, but then when you wake up, he doesn't exist to you. That seems contradictory."

Joey wrinkled his nose. "Hey, that's a good point. When you woke up last night, you knew you'd been dreaming, but you didn't know I was there. What did you think you were dreaming?"

She frowned in concentration. "I don't know. I don't remember what I thought when I first woke up. I don't remember not remembering you. But the nightmares are about something I did, not what was done _to_ me."

Yugi shifted onto his knees. "Mai, this is still about what was done to you, because it all started with your Shadow Game with Marik. He _did_ something to you in that Shadow Game, something that amplified your worst fear, and then when you lost, he cemented you in that moment in the Shadow Realm. And ever since then, that's been an avenue to attack you. Dartz did it, turning that fear into anger with the Orichalcos stone and using you to draw out Joey and me. And Evan did the same thing." He rose to his feet suddenly. "It's time to stop playing defense and attack the root of the problem."

"Uh, Yuge… we're kinda stuck playing defense until we know who Ramesses is."

Yugi shook his head. "Ramesses is just the flavor of the month. I wanna go back to the source. We need to talk to Marik."

Mai raised her eyebrow at him. "Would he even know? It was his darker half that did it."

"I think it's a mistake for us to make them into completely separate individuals in our minds. Marik would be the first one to tell you that he had to own his darker half to learn how to deal with it. Bakura would say the same, even though his darker half was much more legitimately a separate entity. Darkness thrives in hiding. Shine a light on it, own it, and it can't control you. Wouldn't you agree, Mai?"

"Now wait just one second—" Joey was bristling in defense of Mai, but she put a hand on his arm.

"He's right." She met Yugi's gaze. "But, hon, you've got more important things to worry about right now. You don't need to waste your time on this."

An echo of himself—or was it his other self?—played in his mind and he kept his gaze on Mai. "My friends are never a waste of time." _And I shouldn't have needed to be reminded of that_, he added silently. "I'll call Ishizu and find out how to contact Marik in Greece." He looked at his watch and did some quick calculations. "It's early evening in Luxor right now, and I think Greece is in the same time zone, so I'd better get on that right away."

"Yugi?" Mai looked troubled as she stood up to face him.

"Yes?"

"How hard was it for you to embrace your dark side?"

The question surprised him. His friends viewed Atem as a friend—which was true enough—and not as an actual darker half the way they saw Marik or Bakura. They chose not to see that _friend _and_ darker half_ were not mutually exclusive. As if to prove it, Joey jumped up to defend him. "Now wait a minute, Mai. He wasn't—"

"No, Joey, she's right." Yugi looked at Mai. "Letting the Orichalcos bring out the darkest parts of ourselves is something we share."

She nodded. "Do you ever have nightmares about it?"

"Not since right after it happened, no. Although I do sometimes dream about a related duel that happened because of that. It was sort of a… I don't know… a test of the spirit, I guess. I had to face my other self in the desert. It was… difficult. But I haven't dreamt about anything truly painful and frightening like your nightmares."

"But you don't dream about the actual moment when—" She lowered her head, unable to continue.

"Mai." Joey squeezed her shoulder in comfort. "It's okay. It's over and done with."

She shook her head. "No, it's not okay. It's worse than the other nightmare. It's one thing to relive the most horrible thing that ever happened to me. It's another to relive the most horrible thing I ever _did_."

Yugi nodded, understanding that more than he cared to.

* * *

As soon as Yugi left to call Ishizu, Mai announced that she needed to get out of the penthouse.

Joey groaned. "Why do I foresee a shopping trip in my future?"

Serenity slapped her brother on the back. "Suck it up, _Onii-chan_. You two have fun. I'm gonna go up and take a shower."

Mai headed toward the staircase after her. "I'm going to get my purse and our coats. You wait right here."

He was still waiting when the elevator opened and Sara Drake stepped into the common room.

"Yo, Sara. You just getting in?"

"You know _Nii-sama_ with the all-nighters." Mokuba Kaiba followed Sara off the elevator, carrying the same box that Joey had brought over to Kaiba Corp two days before. He dropped the box on the floor with a thud, although it sounded to Joey like it was a lot lighter than when he'd had to carry it.

"Mokuba, bro! How are you?" Joey got up from his seat and headed toward them, greeting the teen with a bump of the fists. "Your brother's got you doing his grunt work again, huh?"

"No, I just thought I'd help Sara out. This is the stuff she and Seto got through last night. They're gonna get together and go through more of them tonight. In the meantime, I thought I could help out here, if there's anything that isn't in Egyptian."

"There's some stuff in English and some in Japanese. We've read through most of it, but Yugi would probably appreciate some fresh eyes. The rest of us are getting burned out."

"Okay."

Joey crossed his arms. "So why's Kaiba pulling all-nighters for this anyway? It was like pulling teeth for Téa to even talk him into helping at all."

Mokuba shrugged. "Guess he figured he'd be better off if Téa didn't come back and bug him again."

"Ain't that the truth." Joey chuckled.

Sara coughed. "I'm terribly sorry I didn't call to say I wouldn't be back. I hadn't expected to be so late, and we just fell asleep. But still, it was rather rude of me."

"Nah, no big." Joey waved it off with his hand. "Spending that much time with Kaiba is punishment enough."

"Hey, watch it! That's my big brother you're talking about." Mokuba's protest was more automatic than offended, however; he was used to the potshots his brother and Joey took at each other.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll go up and change, and then I'll do some more reading in the library." Sara brushed past Joey on her way toward the stairs.

Mokuba called after her. "Hey, tell Téa to come out and say hi." Then, he looked around the room. "Where is everybody anyway? They all sleeping in or something?"

"Nah, everyone's up, except maybe Téa and Duke. Yugi went to go call Ishizu, and Serenity went back to her apartment to shower. She'll be down soon. Tristan, he's on the phone with Paige, that girl from London. Remember her?"

Mokuba raised his eyebrows. "Really? I thought he liked Serenity."

Joey scowled. "He can date someone else's sister, so just shut up."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "So where's Mai?"

"She and I are taking off. She just went up to get her purse, so naturally we'll be leaving in about five more hours."

"I heard that, Wheeler!"

Joey looked up and saw her coming down the stairs, passing by Sara, who was on her way up. "'Bout time, princess," Joey said with feigned irritation.

"I didn't know you were in such a hurry to go shopping."

"Yeah, on second thought, take your time."

"No dice, Wheeler." She reached the bottom landing and walked towards them, Joey's fleece coat over her arm. "Hi, Mokuba. What brings you here, kiddo?"

"Thought I'd lend a hand with all this reading you guys are doing."

"I'm sure Yugi will appreciate the help. Everyone will." She stopped as she reached them. "Speaking of everyone, where are Tristan, Duke, and Téa? I haven't seen them yet this morning."

Joey was relieved to hear her mention Téa along with the others. "I think Téa and Duke are still sleeping, but Tristan's on the phone with Paige. She called him all the way from England." He flashed a broad smile.

Mai, however, frowned at this news. "Really? How's Serenity taking it?"

"See!" Mokuba crossed his arms, triumphant.

Joey exploded. "Whaddaya mean, how's Serenity taking it? What does she care?"

Mai rolled her eyes and patted him on the shoulder. "You are completely without a clue, you know that, Joseph? Lovable, but clueless."

"Now wait just one second, Mai—" He was cut off when she threw her coat at him.

"Forget it, Wheeler. Let's just get out of here. 'Bye, Mokuba. See you around."

"Yeah, Mai, you too." Mokuba waved back as Mai dragged Joey toward the elevator.

Once the doors closed behind them, Joey rounded on her again. "What was that supposed to mean about Serenity?"

"Never mind." She brushed it off with her hand. "We've got more important things to do."

"Shopping. Oh, yay."

"Forget the shopping. I'm not about to let Yugi Mutou fight my battles for me. He can say what he wants about this going back to Marik, but it's the _Orichalcos_ duel I'm dreaming about now, and I wanna talk to someone who knows something about that."

Joey's eyes widened. "Rafael?"

She smiled. "Last I heard, he's in LA. What say we gas up one of Pegasus's jets and take a hop down the coast?"


	14. Superheroes

**14. Superheroes**

Téa had been awake for less than fifteen minutes and was sitting at the little table in her kitchenette, waiting for her coffee to finish brewing, when Sara Drake came in. Téa raised her eyebrows. "Hey, there you are. I was worried when I got home last night and you weren't here, and then woke up and it didn't look like you'd been here all night. Where were you?"

Sara looked embarrassed. "I'm so sorry about that. It was terribly rude of me. It's just… we worked later than I anticipated, and I fell asleep and never thought to call. Oh, Mokuba Kaiba came back with me. He wanted you to go down and say hello when you get a chance."

"Mokuba Kaiba?" Téa was completely lost. "How did you end up with Mokuba Kaiba?"

"By working with his brother on the texts."

Téa frowned, confused. "Excuse me?"

Sara sat down at the table with her, sitting at the edge of her chair as if she were ill at ease. "Didn't anyone tell you? Seto Kaiba was having trouble knowing just what to look for in those texts you brought to him, so Yugi asked me to go over and work with him to help him sort out what was useful and what wasn't. We got rather, um… absorbed in what we were doing, and I ended up just falling asleep over there and neglected to call. I'm sorry."

"Oh." Téa blinked. "Who knew Kaiba would actually put _effort_ into helping." She shook off the weirdness of it. "Don't worry about it; it's not that big a deal. I'm just glad everything's fine. Did you guys find anything useful?"

"Sadly, no. Plenty of the regular death rituals, but nothing that would help after a body has been destroyed."

Téa sighed. "Well, I suppose I should go down and say hi to Mokuba before he leaves. I didn't get to see much of him in London before we had to leave for Egypt."

"I believe he's staying to pitch in until we go back to meet with his brother this afternoon." Sara rose from the table. "I'm going to go change, all right?"

"Sure." Téa didn't move from the table. After a moment of trying to talk herself into going downstairs, she gave up and decided if Mokuba was going to be here a while, she'd see him later. Right now, she didn't want to see anyone. Well, mostly she didn't want to see Yugi—

_He's not Yugi._

_Yes, he _is_. He's_ Yugi.

She gritted her teeth. It was bad enough picturing Atem trapped in the Shadow Realm, waiting for them to find a way to bring him back. But Yugi? She shuddered. No. He was wrong. It was a trick. There had to be another explanation.

Her coffee maker finished brewing, and she got up and poured herself a mug, then sat back down trying not to think. But Yugi's—_Not Yugi—YES, YUGI!_—his words kept coming back to her. _What do you think would've happened if the _almighty Pharaoh_ had decided it was _Joey_ who was the bully? That it was _Joey_ who needed to get his comeuppance in a Dark Game?_

No. He was wrong. That's all there was to it. Atem was their friend. He was someone they loved. He was someone _she_ loved.

_But he doesn't love you._

That thought hit her hard, despite the fact she'd had it many times since her talk with… with _him_ last night. The way he'd been pushing her away, it all made sense if he could somehow only access the part of him that was Atem.

That part of him that didn't love her and never had.

It was a thought she'd managed to avoid thinking in the three years since Atem had been sent to the afterlife, leaving his memories and a good chunk of his personality behind with Yugi. She'd thought how _she_ felt about that, how relieved and thrilled _she_ was to think that a part of him would always be with Yugi. That way she wouldn't have to choose.

Just like he'd accused her.

But how _could_ she choose? He was a part of Yugi. The thought of loving Yugi without Atem was like trying to imagine Mai only loving half of Joey. It didn't work that way. Even if Mai didn't like Joey's every personality trait, she didn't stop _loving_ him. So how could Téa stop loving Yugi when he was Atem? She couldn't.

But she'd never considered the reverse, how _he_ felt, the part of him that was Atem. If Atem was half of Yugi and Atem had never loved her—at least not in that way—then half of Yugi could never love her, not really.

It put their whole relationship into a disturbing new light. Out of the two of them, she'd always been the assertive one, the one who instigated things, the one who made things happen. Well, not entirely—he'd been the first one to say _I love you_. But it had taken him two years to muster up the courage _after_ she'd confessed she had feelings for him. Then when he did say it, from that point on, every initiative had come from her. The first time they'd slept together, back in Japan just before they'd all moved to San Francisco, she'd practically had to bolt the door to her room to get him to stay. At the time, she'd chalked it up to nerves. It was the first time for both of them, and Yugi, typically, seemed to have a hard time believing she really wanted him, despite everything she'd done to prove to him just how much she did.

But what if it wasn't nerves so much as the fact that half of him just didn't want _her_? The thought made her feel queasy and dirty, as if she'd forced herself on him somehow. She did have a reputation for being too pushy—

"Téa, what do you know about Seto?"

Téa looked up from her mug, startled, to find Sara standing next to the table wearing different clothes than what she'd had on when she'd come in. Téa had been so preoccupied, she hadn't even realized Sara had finished changing and had come back out of the bedroom.

"Uh—" Her mind fumbled for an answer as she tried to drag it off Yugi. "I dunno. Not much. I'm sure you know more than any of us. We know much more about Atem."

Sara cocked her head, looking confused, then chuckled. "Oh, no, not the Pharaoh Seto. I mean Seto Kaiba."

Téa frowned. "Kaiba? Oh, okay." She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. No one calls him 'Seto' but Mokuba. And occasionally Rebecca Hawkins when she's trying to put on airs, so I thought—" She shook her head. "Never mind. You wanna know about Kaiba. Must've been a joy working with him all night. Did he just totally drive you nuts or what?"

"Uh… something like that." Sara sat down at the table across from Téa in that same strange, stiff, edge-of-the-seat posture that made her look like she was getting ready to bolt. "I just… I couldn't quite get a handle on him. He's so…"

"Arrogant? Cold? Stuck-up? Aloof? Conceited? Self-absorbed?"

"Hm. Yes, I suppose he is all those things." She looked a little hesitant, though.

Téa relented. "Oh, he's all right, I guess, despite all that. He really wants to do the right thing, he just would rather die a slow and painful death than admit it. And I guess 'self-absorbed' isn't totally accurate, either, 'cause he's really all about Mokuba. Mokuba's like… I dunno." She reached for a way to put words around the Kaiba brothers' relationship. "He's like Kaiba's human credential, if that makes sense. Just the fact that Mokuba can be the kind of person he is proves Kaiba can't be all bad. Everything he is, he became to protect Mokuba. He's had to take care of him since they were kids. Their dad was a real creep."

"So I've heard. He was their adopted father, though, right?"

"Mm-hm." Téa took a sip of her coffee. "Kaiba called him 'stepfather' for some reason. But meeting Gozaburo suddenly puts Kaiba in a whole new light. Kaiba's a sweetheart compared to his stepfather."

"Oh, you met him, then?"

She hedged. "Uh… in a manner of speaking. But only briefly. And it really did make me appreciate Kaiba a little more." She tilted her head. "And, of course, there's the fact that I owe him my life."

"What do you mean?"

"Kaiba saved my life. Twice, actually."

Sara gaped at her. "What, do you mean literally?"

Téa nodded as she took another sip of her coffee. "Of course, he'll tell you it was payback because both times happened to be after I'd helped Mokuba, but I don't believe it for a second. He has a heart; it's just buried deep down under a really, _really_ thick crust."

"How did he save your life?" Sara's stiff pose was gone as she leaned forward with interest.

"Uh, let's see. The first time I was chained to a chair with a crate wrapped in dynamite hanging from a crane over my head." She rolled her eyes when Sara gaped at her again. "I know, it sounds like something out of a silent movie. You'd be surprised how much of my high school life involved this kind of high drama. Yugi wasn't exaggerating when he said things involving the Millennium Items tended to get ugly. But anyway, Kaiba used one of his remote-controlled helicopters to pull the crane over into the ocean and then knocked the remote detonator out of one of the kidnapper's hand so he couldn't release it while it was still over my head."

"You can't be serious!"

"God's honest truth." Téa held up her right hand in solemn oath. "The second time was last May. We were all at a tournament that was supposed to take place on this cruise ship to Alaska, but one of the crewmembers sabotaged the ship and sunk it. We ended up on this island, and the guy who sunk the ship attacked me and knocked me unconscious while I was standing at the edge of this huge ravine. I would've fallen in if Kaiba hadn't caught me. Not that I remember that one, having been unconscious at the time, but that's how everyone else said it happened."

"I… well. That is quite… He's rather dramatic, isn't he?" Sara looked flustered.

Téa snorted. "Oh, yeah. He can't take off his coat without making it into a sweeping statement."

Sara seemed to chew on this a while, and Téa went back to sipping her coffee, her mind starting to drift back to Yugi, so she'd almost been too distracted to hear when Sara asked, "What about women?"

"Women?" Téa blinked.

"I suppose a rich, attractive bachelor like him is quite the playboy."

"Kaiba?" Téa wrinkled her nose into her coffee, trying to imagine Kaiba with a girlfriend. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen him with anyone. He's always seemed too aloof to date. Although I don't imagine he's exactly a monk either. He does have a bunch of Duel Monster fangirls always looking for his attention." She shrugged. "I've never really thought about it before." And then a thought occurred to her, and her eyes widened as she regarded Sara over the top of her mug. "Wait a minute. Do you _like_ him? Like… _like_ like him?"

At the accusation, Sara lost all self-composure and banged her head down onto the table. "I don't know! I've known him less than a day, and he's all the things you've said, and I have never in my life been attracted to someone so… so…"

"Arrogant, cold, stuck-up, aloof, conceited and self-absorbed?"

"Exactly! And yet, there's something about him that just… oh, I don't know. I'm an idiot, aren't I?" she asked without raising her head from the table.

"I, uh… no, not at all." Téa floundered, not quite sure what to say. "He's just… Kaiba. I really never pictured him with anyone, that's all. But I guess he's sorta hot, and does have that whole dramatic thing going for him, so it's not totally impossible to imagine."

Sara sat up and looked at Téa. "But he's not the kind of person who'd have an actual relationship with someone, is he? Oh, what am I saying?" she slapped herself on the forehead. "I've known him for all of twenty hours and I'm going back to Cairo in less than a week. I really _am _an idiot."

"Whoever said attraction is logical? Besides, the guy's like a billionaire. If he wanted to, he could fly to Cairo just because he felt like having some falafel."

"You're not helping." Sara rested her head on her palm. "You're supposed to be telling me I'm an idiot."

"Okay, you're an idiot. Better?"

"Much." She smiled, but then it faltered and she looked embarrassed again. "Oh, this is ridiculous. I came here as a scholar, and here I am, fancying someone I don't even know, acting like some bloody Essex girl. Forget I even asked. It's nothing."

"It's no big deal."

Sara leaned back in her chair. "He really saved your life, though? I don't picture him as much of a Superman."

Téa scowled in distaste. "Ick, no. Not Superman. Batman, maybe. He certainly has Bruce Wayne's money. But Superman is way too lame."

Sara laughed. "So you're an aficionado of American superheroes, then?"

"Yeah, well, I tend to get sucked into the things the guys I hang out with like, in case you haven't noticed." She grinned. "When I lived in New York, I dated a guy who collected comics. Superman and Spider-Man, mostly, and the whole secret identity thing kind of intrigued me, so I read a bunch of them. Never liked Superman. I always thought he was an idiot for falling for Lois Lane."

"What've you got against poor Lois?"

"She's just obnoxious. Although in fairness it's really the Margot Kidder movie version that ruined her for me. It just annoyed the hell out of me that she didn't give a damn about Clark until she found out he was really Superman, and then he goes and gives up his powers for her and there's that whole awful exchange where she says 'I want the man I fell in love with' and instead of telling her to go to hell like she deserved, he just says 'I wish he were here,' like somehow he's not good enough—"

She stopped short as something that felt like a small boulder hit her in the gut. "Oh, my God."

"Téa, what's wrong?"

Téa closed her eyes, covering her face with her hand. "How could I be so stupid? No wonder she makes me crazy. She's _me_."


	15. Rifts

**15. Rifts**

"I'm glad you called, Yugi. I wanted to talk with you."

Yugi felt his hopes lift, and his grip on the phone tightened. "Did you find something, Ishizu? Something to lead us to Ramesses?"

"Nothing like that, no," she said, and he deflated. "But something else has come up. Something we've been noticing during the vigil ritual in the tombs each night."

There was a touch of excitement in her voice, and Yugi felt hopeful again as she explained. "You see, Yugi, when Atem originally sealed his spirit into the Millennium Pyramid and it shattered, turning into a Puzzle, he created a rift. He wasn't the first one, mind you. Mahad did the same thing when he merged his spirit with the Illusion Magician to create the Dark Magician. There have been others, as well, but none with Atem's power. With his _Ka_ locked inside the Puzzle instead of in the afterworld, the _Ba_ was incomplete. All who came afterwards—"

"Were incomplete," Yugi finished for her.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say you were incomplete, Yugi, or that you were not whole. But there was a rift in your soul, as there was in Ryou's, and as there would be in whoever came from Mahad's _Ba_."

Yugi's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait. Mahad's _Ba_? Are you saying there is someone walking around as a reincarnation of _Mahad_?"

"Of course there is, Yugi. It only stands to reason."

"But I thought with his soul sealed into the Dark Magician's tablet—"

"How is that any different than Atem's soul being sealed into the Puzzle? The soul is in many parts. Part of Mahad's soul will always be in the Dark Magician. But somewhere in the world lives a person with the same connection to Mahad that you share with Atem, or that Seto Kaiba shares with the guardian Seto. We will probably never know who it is."

There was such a note of sadness in her words that it gave Yugi pause. Was her soul incomplete as well, waiting not for her own ancient counterpart, but for the one that ancient counterpart had loved? "So what are you saying, Ishizu?"

"I'm saying that when Atem sealed his spirit into the Puzzle, because of who he was and his innate power, he created a much larger rift, one that had some impact on more than just his own future incarnations. When you solved that Puzzle almost six years ago, and his spirit joined with yours, it was the first step to healing that rift."

"Healing? I thought solving the Millennium Puzzle is what opened the Shadow Realm and set off everything that occurred afterwards. That doesn't sound very healing."

"Have you ever heard of someone breaking a bone and it heals improperly?" Ishizu asked him. "What do the doctors have to do in order for the bone to heal properly?"

Yugi considered it a moment and then nodded, understanding. "Re-break it."

"Exactly. That doesn't sound very healing, either, but it's the first step toward a true cure. Atem did what he had to do to save Egypt. To save the world. But in creating the rift, the world healed improperly. Solving the Millennium Puzzle was like re-breaking the bone. After that, things began to heal properly. The more you and Atem became fused together, the more you were both _healed_. The more the _world_ was healed."

"Then why the Ceremonial Battle? Why send… him away?" Yugi had to force himself into _Yugi's_ point of view instead of Atem's.

"Don't you see? That was the final healing. That is why you retained his memories and some of his personality. They were never meant to be separate from you, and when his spirit went to the afterlife where it belonged in the first place, it set everything right. It took what was once separated into parts and made you _whole_."

Yugi nodded, finally understanding where she was going. "And now that he's no longer in the afterlife where he belongs, there's another rift."

"Yes, I believe that is exactly what is happening. It's difficult to explain, but we've all felt this rift—Ryou, Odion, Rashida, and I—as we've sat vigil. Am I wrong in guessing that you have felt it as well?"

Yugi almost choked on the understatement. "You could say that, yes. I feel completely divided. Separated from myself."

"I am not surprised. But it goes beyond just you, and this, I believe, is why Ramesses has done what he's done. In re-creating the rift, he has made it easier to access the Dark Games again. He's broken the same bone again and he's hoping this time we won't be able to heal it." She sighed. "Yugi, I'm afraid I owe you an apology. You were right to make getting his soul back a priority. I don't know if it's possible, and I still think there are many risks if we have to bring him back here instead of the afterlife, but in light of this rift we've all been experiencing, if it can be done, it must be, not just for Atem's sake, but for—"

"Don't say 'for the sake of the world.'" Yugi felt his heart squeeze in his chest. "I'm tired of saving the world. I…." He trailed off, surprised Ishizu didn't comment, but she seemed to be waiting for him to finished. He took a deep breath. "Okay, I don't really mean that, not exactly. But sometimes, it's just personal, Ishizu. Like Duelist Kingdom was _personal_. Sometimes I just need to save him because of what he means to _me_, not to save the world."

"Yet you chose to fight the Ceremonial Battle. You chose fight and to _win_, to let him go because it was the right thing to do, even though it was painful to you."

"That's different." He was uncomfortable talking about the Ceremonial Battle because he couldn't remember it through his own eyes—either sets of them. "The Ceremonial Battle wasn't a choice between the good of the many over our good. It was the right thing to do _for_ us, too, no matter how painful. What you just said about the rift finally healing is proof of that."

"Surely you aren't saying you would choose to save him if it meant dooming the world?"

He closed his eyes and swallowed over the lump in his throat. "No. I… I could not choose to doom the world." _Yugi would never choose such a thing._ "But that's not the conflict here, Ishizu. I stand by what I said in Luxor, that the darkness will continue to exist with or without the Millennium Items. If bringing him back won't _destroy_ the world, and even if now you're telling me it might help _save_ it, either way it doesn't change why I need to do this. I'm going to bring him back for _him_. Because of what he means to me. If it just so happens that the world will benefit, so much the better, but I'm not saving him to save the world, Ishizu. I'm saving him to save _him_."

"I understand," she said quietly. "But I wanted you to know that I was wrong, that I am glad you persisted. The vigils that we sit each night, they are benefiting more than just Atem and Seto. They are helping hold together the rift. They're helping keep the darkness at bay, at least a little."

"Not enough."

"Excuse me?"

"That's actually why I called. I need to get a hold of Marik. Something is going on with Mai, something that is a holdover from what Marik… from what happened to her in her duel with him. I need his help to try and figure it out, and I don't have his mobile number. It works in Greece, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does." She gave him the number. "But Yugi, there is more I have to tell you. Something happened last night that I can't quite explain. Rashida and I were sitting vigil last night in Atem's tomb while Ryou and Odion were in Seto's. Sometime near the end of the vigil, not long before dawn, we felt something. Rashida and I both felt it, and later Ryou and Odion said they felt it, too. Perhaps even more than Rashida and I."

"Felt what?"

"I don't know. Another healing. That's the only way I can explain it. As if one of the rifts had somehow closed itself."

Yugi frowned. "I don't understand. I certainly don't feel like the rift has closed."

"I don't mean your rift. I'm talking about one of the other rifts. One of the other souls that was divided has somehow found itself and begun the process of healing."

Yugi frowned. "Wait. Are you saying… like whoever Mahad was reborn as somehow connected with the Dark Magician?"

"It's possible, but that's only one of many possibilities." Another hint of emotion broke through just beneath the surface of her nearly impenetrable composure. "But whoever it was, it has had an effect. The darkness is a little more at bay today than it was yesterday."

Yugi grimaced. "Doesn't seem like it here on this end."

"You speak of Mai's situation."

"Yes. And all of us. None of us have been quite right since the graves were desecrated. I certainly haven't been right."

"Well yes, your own rift would be rather overwhelming to you, I imagine, but are you no better today than yesterday?"

Yugi raised his eyebrows. "I am better, actually. I slept for almost sixteen hours yesterday. It's the first sleep I've gotten since Luxor."

"Hm." Ishizu paused a moment. "This is something we need to pursue, Yugi. Someone somewhere unknown to us has just made things that much better for us, which means they've made it that much worse for Ramesses. I fear that they may be in danger."

"Would he be able to find them? Would _we_?"

"I don't know, but this needs to be another avenue of research."

"We're starting to spread ourselves awfully thin, Ishizu."

"I'm worried about that as well. I'd like to ask for Professor Hawkins' help with this, Yugi. I'd like him to come back to Egypt after he returns from Boston."

"I don't know, Ishizu. He reads hieroglyphics, and with Sara leaving around the time he and Rebecca return…."

"I understand, but Rebecca reads hieroglyphics as well, as does Kaiba. Have you considered asking him for assistance?"

"Yes, he and Sara were working together yesterday." Yugi sighed, capitulating. "You're right. I can't keep everyone hunting for a ritual to bring the other me back. Call the professor on his cell. I'm sure he'd be willing to help you, although there might be some scheduling difficulties if this takes more than a week or so. He's supposed to be at Berkeley for the start of the new term."

"I'm sure he'll agree this is rather urgent." She sighed. "I hope you find a ritual to bring him back. Not just for the world, Yugi, but for both of you."

"Thank you, Ishizu."

Next on his agenda was calling Marik. He dialed the phone number Ishizu gave him, getting Marik's voice mail. After leaving a message, Yugi hung up and leaned back in his chair to think about what Ishizu had told him.

Who could this other rift-healing person be? Could it really be Mahad? He bit his lip, trying not to get his hopes up. Mahad was far from the only person who had given up his soul to give life to one of the many monsters that their ancient counterparts had used to fight the enemies of Egypt. He was no more likely a suspect than any of the others, including hundreds of criminals who had had their _Kas_ sealed as a means of punishment. But still, Mahad was more powerful than most. Surely it would take someone with as much power as Mahad for Ishizu and Bakura to actually feel it? And Bakura did have a connection with Mahad in that his own darker counterpart had been the one responsible for his destruction. Maybe—

The phone rang, jarring him out of his thoughts, and he answered it, surprised to find that it was Marik returning his call so soon. He briefly explained the situation to him. "I hate to ask, Marik. I know you weren't really in control of yourself when your darker half dueled Mai, but you must know something about what was done to her. You understand the power of the Millennium Rod better than anyone alive. What exactly happened to her, and why does it seem to be something other people can so easily use against her?"

Marik was quiet for a moment. "I hardly think emotional scars need to be magical in nature for someone with the right knowledge to use them against us."

"No, but to cause these dreams to reoccur in such a precise fashion? That doesn't seem like your run-of-the-mill sociopath messing with your head."

"Possibly. And you say these nightmares have gotten worse each night?"

"Yes, and they've shifted. It started out being like her imprisonment in the Shadow Realm, but now she's dreaming about her Orichalcos duel. And when she's awake, she's having the same… well, let's call them 'symptoms' as your Shadow Game gave her. She seemed completely unaware of Joey's and Téa's existence. That's when Serenity noticed there was a somewhat tenuous connection to the Shadow Realm, but when Mai snapped out of it and could see Joey again, it was gone."

"Odd." Marik sounded contemplative. "It would seem to me that if someone knew how to attack her through her dreams, they'd get right down to it and lock her into the Shadow Realm, don't you think? It's almost as if something is blocking them."

Yugi considered this. "Ishizu mentioned a couple of things." He then went on to share the conversation he'd had with her about the rift created by the tomb desecrations and how the vigils were helping, and then what she'd told him about someone maybe healing another rift.

There was another pause before Marik spoke. "This is ridiculous, me hiding out here in Greece like a frightened child while I'm needed elsewhere. I'm going to come to San Francisco, Yugi. I wanna see for myself what's going on and what I can do to help."

"Come… here?" Yugi suddenly felt flustered. "I hardly think you need to come all the way out here, Marik. Just tell me what you know over the phone—"

"No, that isn't good enough. Give me a couple of days to take care of a few things and I can be in the U.S. by… Friday. The seventh."

"But that's three days! Mai needs help _now_, before she goes to sleep tonight."

"I can't help her from Greece, and it takes almost twenty-four hours just to get there from here. I'll call you when I have a flight."

"Marik, no offense, but if Mai's already having a hard time with these nightmares. I don't think being around the person who caused them in the first place is a good idea, do you?"

Marik was insistent. "It's the only way I can help. I'm glad you called, Yugi. I'm sure once I get to San Francisco, I can figure out how to fix everything. I'll call you in a little while with my flight information. Good-bye."

"Marik, I—" But he'd hung up.

Yugi sighed, putting the phone on the receiver and hunching his shoulders, uncomfortable. Marik coming here was not what he'd had in mind and was very likely the last thing Mai needed. He certainly couldn't stay here in the same penthouse with her. A hotel, maybe, or Duke's.

Rubbing his eyes, Yugi got up from his desk and headed out of the office back into the common room. It was empty, although he heard voices coming from upstairs in the library, which meant the others were probably working through the various texts or translations. He needed to get started on that, too. But there had to be something more he could do for Mai. Waiting for three days for Marik to show up didn't exactly sound like a good plan.

He looked up at the wall at the print depicting the Harpie Lady, Mai's signature Duel Monster. It was a good fit for her. Tall, beautiful, and seductive, but with razor-sharp talons, too dangerous to get close to. Mai wore her own talons, slicing anyone who got too near with her tongue instead of claws. They'd all managed to get past those defenses at Duelist Kingdom and had parted company as friends, but Battle City had taken a huge toll and the talons had been sharper than ever when they saw her again in California. Of course, by then she was already under Dartz's influence. But why? Why Mai? She was scarred, true enough, but weren't they all in some way or another? And yet it always seemed to be Mai who was dragged back into her nightmares, no matter how many times she'd battled those demons and prevailed.

Well, it wasn't just Mai, he had to admit. He kept battling the same demons, too, didn't he? Three years after the Ceremonial Battle and he was still fighting to know who he was without his other self. And now that he felt like the wrong self….

He sighed, the Dark Magician print catching his eye, bringing his thoughts back to Mahad. Could it be Mahad whom Ishizu had sensed? Had he somehow found his way to the Dark Magician? And if so, how? Through one of Kaiba's holograms? Would that be enough? Without thinking, he reached for the Dark Magician pendant around his neck.

Maybe it was enough. If he could feel this connected to Dark Magician, surely someone with an even deeper bond to Mahad could, too. He looked now at all the prints, eight monsters representing eight friends. He could almost see his friends in their faces… Joey astride Red-Eyes. Serenity with Mystical Elf's blue skin. Tristan in Command Knight's armor, lending his strength to others.

His brow furrowed as a thought occurred to him. Mai had been reaching for her Duel Disk when Joey woke her up. Yugi had not attached much importance to it because of the dream, but now it seemed significant. Yugi's eyes widened. She wasn't just dreaming, or even the passive victim of an attack through the nightmares. She was getting ready to _duel_. And if that were the case, there was a good chance that the nightmares were a conduit, a means of calling her into a new kind of Dark Game!

Turning, he went back towards the workspaces, bypassing his own office and the practice room for the card vault at the end of the hall. One of the advantages of working for Industrial Illusions was access to a wide variety of cards. It was time to put that access to use for something other than making an impression at tournaments.


	16. Side Trip

**16. Side Trip**

Damn.

Monarch paced around the study of one of the homes listed under his birth name. Insofar as it was possible, he tried not to conduct any of his _other_ business from here. He'd gone to great lengths to keep that part of his life very separate from his birth identity, and it wouldn't do to muck it up by conducting _that_ business from here, but the nature of the Dark Games he was trying to call over the past week necessitated him being ready at a moment's notice, and that meant a great deal of it was bleeding over into times and places where he was wearing his public persona.

And now this. It had to be taken care of, and quickly, which would mean another trip to Luxor a little earlier than he'd planned. And in all likelihood, it meant even further enmeshment between his public and private lives. The place where he conducted most of his Luxor business wouldn't be enough for what he had in mind, which meant the mercenaries would probably have to be brought to his other home, thus tearing down the careful wall he'd constructed between his two lives.

He stopped at his desk long enough to slam his hands down on it. Damn Ishizu Ishtar and her infernal interference! No wonder he wasn't making as much headway as he ought to with Valentine. He should've been able to bring her into a full-fledged Dark Game by now, but no. That contemptible Egyptian cow had to hold things together in the Shadow Realm with her damnable nightly vigils. He knew he should have done something sooner to stop her. Well, this was the last one, rest assured. His servant would take care of that, and he'd take care of the problem with Valentine, too, and then it would be a clear path to the others. To the Vessel himself.

He took a deep breath, calming himself. It really wasn't worth getting worked up over. A quick trip to Luxor—his servant would do most of the work, and the mercenaries would do the clean-up. No, the vigils to sustain the Nameless Pharaoh and his successor would not be a hindrance in the long run. It was the other thing, this "healing rift" that was of greater concern. Could someone who came from a _Ba_ as powerful as Mahad's really have managed to reconnect with its other half? Could it be Mahad himself? Ishizu had only used him as an example, Monarch realized, but certainly to keep the shadows at bay this long, to keep Valentine and the others who would follow from being pulled completely into a Dark Game, the rift that was healing would have to be from someone as powerful as Mahad. His apprentice, Mana, perhaps? Monarch shook his head. No, even she didn't seem powerful enough, and he was fairly certain she hadn't sealed her _Ka_ into the Dark Magician Girl the way Mahad had into Dark Magician.

Then who? And why now? And what could he do to find this person so he could remove them from the scene he had so carefully constructed?

Monarch sat down at his desk. No, he had to take matters one at a time. He would find this connected person in due time, but first he had to take care of the known quantity. First, the Ishtars. If the gods were on his side—and how could they not be?—then that would be enough to access the shadows he needed. It would be enough to bring down Valentine.

* * *

The container terminals section of the Port of Los Angeles docks in San Pedro Bay was a steady hum of activity as workers unloaded huge bulk containers off of cargo ships and onto rail cars for transport inland. There were dozens of berths employing a workforce of hundreds, but with a few flips of her hair and bats of her eyelashes, Mai soon had the information she needed. Now she and Joey found themselves at Berth 232 on the east bank of the Main Channel. They were directed towards the foreman's office situated at the edge of the rail hub, where they found a tall burly man with bushy blond hair and long sideburns seated behind the desk looking over a schedule with a lean but muscular black man bending over his shoulder. Mai leaned in the doorway, Joey behind her, until the blond noticed her. His eyes widened in recognition, but he finished his conversation and waited for the other man to leave, then tilted back in his chair and propped his boots up on his desk, folding his arms behind his head.

"Well, well, if it isn't Mai Valentine." His voice was low and gravelly. "And, of course, Joey Wheeler two steps behind."

"Hello, Rafael." Mai flashed him a smile, elbowing Joey to keep him from taking Rafael's bait. "It's been a while." She sauntered into the office and sat down on top of his desk, pushing his legs aside to make room for herself. Joey took the hint and remained silent in the doorway behind her, his arms folded.

Rafael shook his head, grinning. "A few months anyway. But let me guess, you didn't come all the way down the coast just to chat. Why don't you cut to the chase?"

"Rafael." Mai crossed her legs, an exaggerated pout on her lips. "You're no fun at all. Don't you even wanna hear who I ran into in London at the British Open last week?" She leaned forward conspiratorially. "I'll give you a hint. It was an old friend of ours."

"_We_ don't have any mutual friends. Being duped by the same con man doesn't qualify us as _friends_."

"Good point. But still, after all this time, don't you think it's interesting that Valon suddenly reappeared on the dueling circuit?"

There was a flicker of surprise in his eyes that she might've missed if she'd blinked at the wrong moment, then the affected indifference was back. "Why should I care?"

"Aren't you curious? He disappeared after the whole mess with Dartz and then just pops up at a tournament, and right when he does, weird things start happening."

"What weird things?"

"You tell me."

Rafael rolled his eyes and dropped his feet to the floor, sitting up straight. "Listen, Valentine, I've already told Yugi everything I know about Paradias. There were hundreds of companies involved to varying degrees, and any one of Dartz's partners could've gotten his hands on Orichalcos stones. I made an agreement with Yugi to pass any information onto your little gang that I come across, so if I knew anything more, I would've already told him. I'm not interested in seeing a repeat of four years ago any more than you are."

"I'm not asking for names, Rafael. I wanna know about the Orichalcos _itself_. What do you know about it?"

He frowned thoughtfully. "The Seal?"

"No, the stones."

He let out an impatient huff of air. "I told Yugi everything I knew about that, too. Dartz told us the stones showed us the truth, which hearts were pure, and which were evil."

"Oh, it shows the evil hearts all right," Joey said, and Rafael looked up at him as if only just the remembering he was there.

Mai ignored Joey. "I already know the promotional campaign. I wanna know what it _really_ does. I wanna know—" She paused, glancing over her shoulder at Joey who gave her a slight nod of support. She turned back to Rafael. "I wanna know how Dartz did it. How did he use my nightmares against me?"

This time the surprise in Rafael's eyes registered long enough she couldn't have missed it. "Your nightmares?"

"He had a hook for each of us. Yours was the death of your family. Mine was my nightmares from Battle City. Being trapped and alone. Dartz somehow tapped into that, I know he did. I was fine when I left Domino, and then a couple months later, I wasn't fine. I wanna know how he did it."

Rafael regarded her a moment, his gray-blue eyes studying her. "I think you give me too much credit, Valentine. I was just his lackey. He didn't give me detailed information."

"You were his right-hand man."

"He wanted me to believe I was, but I wasn't. He kept all the really important information to himself. I don't know _how_ he went after you, I only know why—to get to _you_." His eyes flicked beyond her to Joey. "And then to use you to get to the Pharaoh."

"We know all that," Joey said. "But how did he know what buttons to push?"

"By paying attention?" Rafael shrugged. "The second Kaiba announced the tournament, he had Valon on a plane to Domino."

Mai's jaw dropped and behind her Joey cried out in surprise. "Say what?"

Rafael gave them a dubious look. "It can't come as a surprise to you that he was watching Battle City very closely, if for no other reason than the Egyptian god cards and the Pharaoh were all together in one place."

"That's not the part that's surprising—it's that it was _Valon_. That son of a bitch." Mai hissed out an angry breath. "I _believed_ him. He said he didn't know anything about the Orichalcos stones and the nightmares, and I believed him."

"Whoa, back up a step." Rafael held his hands up. "I didn't say Valon knew anything about anything. He was even lower in the pecking order than I was. Hell, he was barely on the fringe until Battle City when he got the hots for you and Dartz decided that would be a good hook to reel you in. Whatever Dartz's plans for Battle City were, Valon's only role was to let him know what was going on there."

Mai was not appeased. "Still, he might've mentioned he was there."

"Well, he sure as hell wasn't there for the finals." Joey came forward to join them at the desk. "That was on Kaiba's airship and was just the eight finalists, Kaiba's staff, and our guests. That's where all the action really happened. Well, not totally. There was that mess at the docks with me and Yugi. But what happened to Mai, that was all in the finals. Valon wasn't there, so he couldn't have reported back to Dartz about it."

Rafael shook his head. "No, but there were public reports."

"Of the results, not of all the other crap that was going on," Joey said. "Kaiba was very good at keeping that stuff outta the press. He didn't want people thinking Duel Disks were dangerous. No one knew what really happened in the finals but the eight finalists, Mokuba, Téa, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, and Kaiba's flunkies. Yet, somehow Dartz knew enough to find a way to go after Mai in the same way Marik did and I wanna know how."

"I already told you, I don't know anything about that. All I know is he was really pleased with how Battle City turned out, and when Valon came back all hot to trot over Miss Mini-skirt here, Dartz was more than happy to have him chase her around a bunch of tournaments to reel her in."

Mai leaned forward toward Rafael. No longer bothering to flirt with him, she just glared coldly. "And how exactly was he supposed to 'reel me in'?"

"Dartz told Valon that you wanted true power, but that you didn't know it yet, that you were still expecting your friends to come and rescue you. He said if Valon waited long enough, he'd know when you'd be ready for the power of the Orichalcos."

Mai straightened, growling in frustration. "None of this is new, Rafael! How did Dartz _know_? When Battle City ended, I was in a good place, but then all of a sudden I wasn't, and then I started having nightmares. I know Dartz had something to do with it because Evan Haines used an Orichalcos stone to do the same thing last May, but you're telling me the only thing he told Valon to do was watch me?"

Rafael stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You say this Haines guy used the Orichalcos stone to trigger your nightmares, huh? Well, Valon did have a stone in his ring. He was supposed to follow you around until he thought the time was right to talk to you, but I don't know how _close_ he followed you."

Joey put his hand on her shoulder. "That's a good point, Mai. Do you remember ever bumping into him before the time he actually approached you?"

She thought about it a minute and then shrugged. "I don't know. Lots of crowded tournaments. Who knows who was around me in the crowd?"

"But the nightmares definitely started after you did a few tournaments, right?"

"Mm-hm." Her eyes flicked down and she gave an embarrassed shrug. "But I wasn't in a great place before that, feeling like I couldn't measure up even when I kept winning."

"Did you ever stop to think your hang-ups might not be all Dartz's fault?" Rafael asked, leaning back and propping his feet up on his desk once more.

Mai glared at him. "I know that! And it's not like you have a lot of room to talk, Robinson Crusoe."

"But the nightmares," Joey said, squeezing her shoulder and steering the conversation back on course, "those definitely started _after_ you'd been at a few competitions. So Valon coulda triggered 'em with his stone. Maybe without even knowing it."

Mai nodded. "Then we should be talking to Valon."

"You can try, if you know where to find him." Rafael shrugged. "But I'm telling you, he doesn't know any more about how Dartz worked than I do. Dartz is gone. There's no way to know what was going on in his warped little brain. Sorry you wasted a trip to LA."

Mai swiveled away from him and got up off his desk. Swallowing her frustration, she pasted on a smile. "Well, I wouldn't call it a total wasted trip. There's always Rodeo Drive."

Behind her, Joey groaned. "I knew it was too much to hope for that I'd get out of shopping."


	17. Agreement

**17. Agreement**

He should've cancelled his appointment with Sara, Kaiba realized. Well, really, he shouldn't have slept with her in the first place, considering she not only was someone he'd already agreed to work with again, but also a colleague and a guest of Yugi Mutou, of all people. What's done was done, however, and given that, the best thing to do would be to put as much distance between himself and her as possible. And yet, he didn't cancel the appointment, and as much as he'd like to tell himself it was because he didn't want to get another unsolicited visit from Téa Gardner or even because she'd had a point about the terms of the Ceremonial Battle being honored, the truth was much, much worse.

He wanted to see Sara again.

This was bad.

He was Seto Kaiba, dammit. He did not form personal attachments, not to anyone except Mokuba. Certainly not to women he'd slept with. It was just _sex_ after all. Fantastic sex, maybe. Wild, sizzling, magnificent sex, even. But still just sex. He didn't know the woman, didn't want to know the woman, had no interest in anyone who not only was a student of his most hated period of history, but Yugi Mutou's peer.

Then why didn't he just cancel the appointment? And why was it that every time he tried to get some work done—Kaiba Corp business, his actual _job_—he could only think about her and the look on her face when he'd summoned Blue-Eyes?

Actually, he knew the answer to that, and that was yet another reason this was all so very bad. She reminded him of Kisara, the woman from that ancient Egyptian vision, the one who had died protecting the pharaoh's guardian that shared his name and his face. The one who'd given up her soul to become the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

_It almost looked like Blue-Eyes just didn't want to attack you. She must like you._

Kaiba ground the heels of his hand into his eyes in frustration. Sara Drake was not someone from the ancient past, dammit! She was a twenty-two year old Egyptology student from England who happened to have white hair, blue eyes, and a thing for dragons. It was no reason to _sleep_ with her, and no reason for him to give her a second thought.

Except he had to give her a second thought, because he hadn't canceled the damn appointment with her. He leaned back in his chair, grimacing. Well, that couldn't be helped now, either; it was almost four and she'd be here any minute. So instead of dwelling on what he should or shouldn't have done, it was time to move onto the only thing that mattered: the future. And all the future required of him was to not repeat the mistakes of last night. Keep everything strictly professional.

His phone rang, his internal line to his secretary, and he tensed. No doubt she was here. He took a breath and picked up the phone. "Yes, Marla?"

"Ms. Sara Drake is here for your four o'clock appointment."

"Yes, tell her I'll be with her in a moment." He put the phone back in its cradle and cleared off his desk, putting aside the useless reports. He then went to the small conference table in the corner of the large office and laid out the papyrus scrolls and a few leather-bound journals Roland had brought down from his penthouse, the ones they hadn't gone through yet from the box Téa and that Wheeler mutt had brought over. Two of the scrolls he brought back to his own desk, and after delaying a few minutes so Sara didn't get the impression he had nothing better to do than wait for her to arrive, he called Marla and instructed her to show Sara in.

"Hello, Sara," he said brusquely as soon as Marla had retreated, shutting the door behind her. "I understand Mokuba brought the scrolls we'd already read through back to Illusions Tower. I had the ones we hadn't gotten to yet brought down, and I assume you brought some new ones back with you?"

"I… yes." She seemed taken aback by his getting straight to business. "Well, Mokuba did, anyway. He brought them up to your flat."

Kaiba bit down on his annoyance with his brother. "I think we should probably work here in the office. It's a little more conducive to studying here than upstairs, don't you agree?"

She wasn't quite meeting his eyes, but she seemed to get the message. "That's fine with me."

"Well, then, let's not waste any more time. The sooner we get through these documents, the sooner I can go back to doing my own work." He indicated with his arm the conference table, then pulled over one of the scrolls he'd brought back to his desk and carefully unrolled it.

"Seto, wait. I think we should clear the air first, don't you?"

Kaiba gritted his teeth but kept his face impassive and looked up at her expectantly without saying anything.

"I, uh… I'm afraid we got a little carried away last night," she said, faltering. "I… I don't normally do that sort of thing, and I don't think we should let it happen again. I came here to help find a ritual that would bring two pharaohs' spirits back from Duat after their bodies have been destroyed, and as much as I appreciate the dinner and you and your brother taking the time to teach me that game, I think we should just concentrate on finding a ritual."

"Agreed." He looked back down at his scroll. When she didn't move, he lifted his eyes to meet her gaze but was careful to keep his face cold and expressionless. "Anything else?"

She shifted her jaw, the uncomfortable look from a moment before becoming something more like annoyance. "No, that's all. I just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings and that we agreed to keep things strictly professional from now on."

"I think we're in agreement," he said.

* * *

The agreement lasted all the way through dinner. Working in the office with Kaiba staying behind his desk and Sara at the conference table helped, and he found her only a minor distraction. They made it through several texts each without finding anything of use, although it was slow going at first since he had to stop and frequently query her about the nature of any reference or ritual he found pertaining to death, and naturally any ancient Egyptian text would be rife with them.

Still, they were able to work for more than four solid hours before Mokuba, predictably, appeared at his office door wondering when he was planning on eating. "It's getting late, Seto. I ordered some takeout. Italian okay, Sara? I got some pasta and calzones from Fratelli's"

"Italian is wonderful."

"Bring it down when it arrives," Kaiba directed his brother without looking up from the journal he was reading.

"It's already here, but up at the penthouse."

Kaiba looked up at him, frowning at the slightly mischievous tone. "Well, bring it down here."

"Oh, come on, Seto, you're not gonna make poor Sara work through dinner, are you? You've been at it for, like, four hours. Come upstairs and eat."

"Mokuba…"

"_Nii-sama_, I haven't seen you all day. The least you can do is eat dinner upstairs with me."

While this ploy rarely worked on Kaiba, it had the desired effect on Sara. "I don't think there's any harm in taking a break for dinner so you can eat with your brother."

Mokuba would not be dissuaded, and having won Sara over to his cause, there was nothing for it but to relent. When they arrived at the penthouse, Kaiba saw that not only had Mokuba set out dinner for them, he'd poured some wine for Kaiba and Sara—_my good Terralba_, he noted with irritation. Well, at least Mokuba had chosen an Italian wine that went with dinner, even if his motives were rather transparent.

Sara seemed unfazed, however, and like the night before at Shiroki Ryu, Mokuba kept conversation flowing and entertaining while Kaiba merely ate his calzone. He watched Sara as she laughed at some story Mokuba told about how Kaiba had made him Tournament Commissioner for Battle City when he was all of eleven, and how seriously he'd taken the job, running all over town blowing his whistle. Even Kaiba couldn't help but smirk at the memory.

Sara had a deep, throaty laugh, and he found it surprising, not only because her voice wasn't deep, but because there was something that seemed almost incongruous about her laughing and looking happy. It took him a moment to realize he'd been thinking of Kisara and how solemn and sad she'd been the one time he'd spoken with her up close, and he took a quick sip of wine to mask his exasperation with himself.

They'd no sooner finished eating when Mokuba disappeared into his room. Sara started cleaning up the food containers, plasticware, and wine glasses.

"You don't have to do that, Sara." Kaiba stood up to follow her into the kitchen. "A maid'll come by in the morning."

She made a face at him. "Nonsense. It's a few food wrappers and two wine glasses. I think we can manage without a maid, don't you?"

"Hm." Leaning against the counter near the doorway, he folded his arms and watched her rinse out the glasses.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "You grunt a lot, you know that? You can use actual words. They don't cost you anything."

He merely smirked at her.

She turned back to the sink, pushing a loose strand of hair away from her face. "Mokuba's quite an amazing young man. He's a typical teenager, knowing everything and wanting to assert his individuality, and he's so warm and sociable. But still, a part of him really wants to be just like you."

"Cold and anti-social, you mean?"

She turned to look at him more fully, flushing a little. "Oh no, I didn't mean—"

"Yes you did." He waved her off when she opened her mouth to protest again. "I'm not unaware of my own character traits, and being warm and sociable has never exactly been a goal of mine. I'm a businessman and a duelist, and neither of those things requires me to be particularly kind."

"But being a guardian to your brother does."

Kaiba stiffened and gave her a dark look. "I know how to be a guardian to Mokuba. I've been doing it since I was ten."

"I wasn't implying there was anything wrong with how you look after Mokuba." She cocked her head. "On the contrary, it seems to me you have a wonderful relationship. You are clearly quite devoted to each other. And while you may be curt towards him, there's still a real warmth underneath, so I don't think you're quite as cold as you think you are."

"Mokuba's different." He gritted his teeth, turning away. "And you're right, he's nothing like me."

"I didn't say he was _nothing_ like you. And teenage rebellion aside, I think he would be crushed to hear you say that."

"It wasn't an insult."

She was silent for a moment, and when he turned to look at her again, he found that she'd come away from the sink and was standing next to him, her arms crossed as she appraised him.

"You're a confusing person, Seto Kaiba. A bit of a git, really. And no, I don't think Mokuba will ever keep people at arm's length the way you do. But I rather suspect that's by design on your part." She tilted her head as if trying to puzzle him out and he suddenly found it difficult to swallow. Moving closer to him, she reached up and brushed her fingertips along his jaw line. "Although to be perfectly honest, there are worse things in the world Mokuba could become than like you."

His hand shot up and grabbed her wrist, holding it back from his face. He met her gaze, and for a long moment they stood frozen, not even daring to breathe. Then slowly, she stretched up onto her toes and he found himself leaning down towards her despite the voice in his head screaming that this was a very bad idea. Her lips brushed against his and he closed his eyes at the sensation that it caused until it overrode the screaming voice, silencing it completely. He let go of her wrist to grasp her shoulders and pull her roughly towards him, turning her gentle kiss into something much more demanding. Hungrily, he devoured her mouth, then trailed down her neckline. When it began to be difficult to reach down much further, he lifted her up onto the counter so that she was more level with him and he didn't have to bend down so far to reach her collar. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pressed herself against him, leaning back to give him better access to her throat. His hands found their way to her hair and pulled out the clip holding it up at the back of her head, letting it fall loose down past her shoulders. He curled his fingers into it, holding her steady as his lips made their way down to the opening of her blouse.

She moaned, her breath coming in gasps. "Seto… what about… mmmm… what about Mokuba?"

Kaiba growled at her throat. "Let him get his own girl."

"Seto, he… he could walk in here at any momennnnnn—"

He brought his head back up to kiss her mouth again, cutting her off. "Then I think a change of venue is in order."


	18. Friends and Rivals

**18. Friends and Rivals**

Yugi was the only one still working in the library late that evening when Joey and Mai came in, dropping shopping bags on the table and then flopping into chairs. Joey banged his head down on the table and Mai propped her boots up on it.

Yugi looked up from the journal he was reading and took off his glasses. "Rough day?"

"Frustrating," Mai said. "Shopping therapy didn't even help."

"Oh, you're back!" Serenity poked her head into the library, then came in and peered into the bags. "Whadja get?"

"A couple skirts and a jacket from Fred Segal's on Melrose, and I splurged on a pair of to-die-for Prada boots on Rodeo Drive," Mai said as Serenity pulled out the black leather stiletto boots to admire them. "So… how you doing, kiddo?" She gave Serenity a significant look.

Serenity kept her gaze focused on the boots. "I'm good."

Yugi arched an eyebrow at Mai and Joey. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles?"

"Oh yeah, right." Joey sat up to look at him. "Yo, Yuge, we're gonna use one of Pegasus's planes and go down to LA and talk to Rafael. That okay with you? Thanks, pal."

"Fine with me, but _you_ can write up the report to Pegasus. And I wouldn't mention Prada boots." He linked his hands together and leaned forward. "I take it you asked him about how Dartz triggered your dreams? Did he know anything helpful?"

Joey blew his hair out of his eyes. "Not a thing."

"Hence the frustration and the need for shopping therapy." Mai indicated the packages with a nod of her head.

Yugi nodded. "I didn't think he'd know anything he hasn't already told us."

"Well, there was one bit of interesting news," Mai said. "Apparently Valon was at Battle City."

"Valon was at Battle City?" Yugi's eyes widened in surprise. "He wasn't a competitor, was he?"

Mai shrugged. "Dunno. Rafael said he was sent to report on what was happening, but obviously he wasn't at the finals, so he couldn't have known what happened when I dueled Marik."

Joey leaned forward and draped a protective arm around Mai's shoulders. "But he was following her around at the tournaments she did after Battle City."

"Which we knew," Yugi said.

"Yeah, but remember, he did have an Orichalcos stone in his ring, and Mai's nightmares started around the same time, so I'm betting there's a connection."

Yugi frowned. "I thought you said he didn't know anything about Mai's nightmares."

Joey looked to Mai as if gauging her reaction while she answered. "I don't think he does, but I've been conned before, so I could be wrong. But it's worth checking out either way because maybe just telling us what he reported back to Dartz while he was in Battle City would give us new information."

Serenity put the boots away and sat down next to Mai. "He didn't have any Shadow Realm vibes or anything in London. Not that that means much in terms of Orichalcos stones or anything, but for what it's worth…."

"What do you think?" Yugi asked Joey.

Joey pulled his arm from around Mai's shoulders and leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table as he chewed his lip a while before answering. "You know how when you duel with someone you get a sense of what kind of person they are? If they're a good guy like Mako Tsunami, or a jerk like Kaiba, or a low-life like Rex or Weevil?"

Yugi nodded.

"By the end of our Orichalcos duel, my gut was telling me Valon was on the level. And believe me, no one wants to hate him more than I do." He threw a sideways glance at Mai. "But I don't think he's one of the bad guys, not really. I mean, it's the first thing I thought of when Mai told me she'd been having nightmares since London, and it was the first thing she thought of, too, but… I dunno. I'm guessing if he knows anything, he doesn't _know_ he knows it."

Yugi considered this a moment. "Well, it's worth talking to him again. Do we know where he is?"

"New Zealand," Mai said.

"Okaaaay, can we get it any further narrowed down than a whole country?"

Mai flipped her hair over her shoulder, nonchalant. "Hey, at least it's a small country. And he duels on the Oceania circuit, so I think we can track him down."

"Then you can work on that tomorrow."

"So what about Marik? He have anything useful to say?" Joey asked.

Yugi hunched his shoulders a moment before exhaling a long slow breath.

Joey frowned. "That don't sound good."

"No, it's not bad," Yugi said hastily. "It might even help in the long run. Marik's going to come here in a couple of days. He wants to see for himself what's going on."

Joey cocked his head. "So what's the problem?"

"You don't think it's a bad idea to have Marik around Mai while she's having nightmares? His darker half is the one that caused them in the first place."

Joey looked to Mai. "You don't have a problem with Marik, do you?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him since Battle City. But it didn't bother me to have him around after everything was all over."

"Still, that was before the nightmares started." Yugi shifted in his seat, uncomfortable. "I don't know, it just feels like a bad idea. I was thinking maybe he should stay at Duke's, just to be on the safe side."

Mai shrugged. "That's fine by me."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Joey asked, eyeing Mai with concern.

Serenity leaned forward. "I think maybe I should stay with you guys tonight. I'd like to get a feel for what's going on when she's actually having a nightmare."

Joey hesitated a moment, clearly not thrilled with the idea of his sister getting any more involved with the Shadow Realm than she already was, but eventually he gave a nod of assent.

"I'm guessing I don't get a say in whether or not I need a bunch of babysitters." Mai looked from Serenity to Joey, irate.

"No, you don't," he said flatly.

"But things have been better today, don't you think? I haven't zoned out on you or anything."

Yugi thought again about what Ishizu had told him and hoped maybe things would be better. But just in case… "I had another idea. Joey said you were reaching for your Duel Disk. I don't think your nightmares are just a way to mess with you. I think they're pulling you into some kind of Dark Game. This might help." He reached for a small stack of Duel Monsters cards that was lying on the table next to him. "Keep these handy. Maybe they'll remind you you're not alone, no matter what your nightmares try to convince you."

She gave him a curious look as she reached for the cards. Her eyebrow arched as she flipped through them. "You really think these will help?"

"Couldn't hurt. We're all in this together, Mai."

Joey nodded, peering over Mai's shoulder at the cards. "Great idea, Yuge."

Mai chewed her lip thoughtfully as she looked through the seven cards once more, then simply nodded and slipped them into her pocket.

* * *

Sara lay curled up against Seto's side, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder and her hand absently tracing patterns on his chest. She was pleasantly tired, but not yet sleepy, her mind preoccupied with its own internal battle. Looking up at his face, she saw that he was awake, too.

"I thought we'd agreed this was a bad idea," she said.

He regarded her a moment, his fingers brushing lightly down her arm. "Apparently the terms of our agreement needed to be renegotiated."

She rolled her eyes. "Thank you so much for making a business analogy, because I wasn't feeling quite enough the slag."

He didn't say anything, and she sat up, frustrated with herself. "This is so not like me, Seto. I don't normally do things like this."

"Actually, neither do I."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "You don't normally sleep with women you've just met, or you don't normally see them a second time?"

"Hm." He raised his eyebrow at her and she let out another huff of air.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I'm hardly in a position to cast aspersions."

"It's not entirely undeserved," he said, maddeningly impassive, "but you should remember that you're staying with people who can't stand me. I wouldn't take everything you hear about me at face value."

She turned to face him, frowning. "I didn't hear that from anyone. I surmised it based on Mokuba's reaction to me staying the night last night and the fact that you're a rich, attractive bachelor. And for what it's worth, I doubt any of the people I'm staying with hate you. It's more like…." She fished around for the appropriate comparison. "More like exasperation, like you feel with that one uncle you can't quite understand but you love anyway."

Seto snorted. "Not likely. Or maybe you've never met Joey Wheeler."

"Of course I've met Joey Wheeler. And my observation stands, including him. And—" She cocked her head. "I might add that I don't believe for one second you dislike them as much as you pretend to."

"If I could get each and every one of them out of my life for good, I'd do it."

"Mm-hm," she said skeptically, and he turned away from her in annoyance.

She looked down at him a moment. "Seto, explain something to me. Why are you doing this? Helping look for a ritual that would rescue lost souls from Duat? If you're so busy with your corporation and you don't care about any of this, then why?"

He took a long time to answer, keeping his eyes turned away from her. "It's not something I can explain."

"Surely you don't believe all this rubbish about Atem possessing Yugi?"

Now he did look at her again. "Did Yugi tell you that?"

"No, actually, it was Mokuba."

Seto let out an irritated grunt. "Mokuba spends too much time with Yugi and his gang of dorks."

"Is that why you're helping, then? For Mokuba?"

"No." He put his hands behind his head. "I told you, it's not something I can explain."

"But you don't believe in all that, do you?"

Again, he took a long time to answer; she was about to prod him some more when he finally spoke. "It's about respect for the terms of an engagement. Yugi is entitled to the prizes from his victories, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let some tin-can despot who didn't even witness the game disregard them."

She looked down at him, confused. "Does everyone from Japan talk in riddles? I swear, I don't understand the lot of you. What do Yugi's victories have to do with Atem's and Seto's souls being in Duat?"

He gave her a strange look. "You're a student of Egyptology. Of this particular dynasty, aren't you?"

"Yes," she said slowly, not sure where he was going.

"I'm not a student of Egyptology, but even I know the importance of a pharaoh's name. This pharaoh, Atem, his name was removed from all records, right? They didn't find out what it was until three years ago."

"Actually, there were no records of any kind. Nothing but the stone tablet on display in Giza, and the names had been removed from that. Everything else from that era has been purged."

"And if an Egyptian is nameless, what does that mean for his spirit?"

"That he cannot go to the afterlife."

"So by the Egyptians' own beliefs, this 'nameless pharaoh' could not have been in the afterlife for thousands of years. It would take recovering his name to win him that right, correct?" Seto asked.

"Yes, I suppose that's right."

"Do you know _how_ his name was discovered?"

"Of course I do. Ishizu Ishtar—"

"Wrong. Ishizu Ishtar had nothing to do with it. She takes the credit because Yugi Mutou is a pathetic loser who's afraid of his own notoriety. He doesn't want to be known as the kid who discovered a pharaoh while he was still in high school."

"Seto, what the bloody hell are you on about? You think Yugi discovered Atem's name?"

"I know he did."

"Well, you're wrong. It's true Yugi was there when their names were discovered, but—"

"So was I."

She shut her mouth with a snap, then opened it again. "You? Were there? Why were you in Egypt?"

He rolled his eyes. "I went to see a man about an Eye. But the point is, I was there, so I know exactly what happened. Yugi discovered the name. Which means he won the right for Atem to go to the afterlife."

She gaped at him. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? Ishizu Ishtar is the Director of the Egyptian Bureau of Archaeology and is a highly respected scholar and government official. You're accusing her of stealing credit for the discovery of an entire new dynasty from a _high school student_?"

"I didn't say she _stole_ credit. I said Yugi _gave_ it to her."

"But why? It's his field of study!"

"I told you, because he's a pathetic loser. He doesn't want exactly the kind of reaction you're giving right now. He's already famous for dueling, and fame scares the little geek. But the point is, under the Egyptian beliefs, Yugi won Atem's right to the afterlife, and he is entitled to his prize. As his rival, I respect that, no matter what I might believe or not believe, and I'm not gonna sit back and let some third-rate hack try to cheat his way into reversing the outcome of someone else's victory."

She studied him a moment, and if it were anyone else, she'd be convinced he was having her on, but even after only two days, she knew him well enough to know he didn't have that kind of sense of humor. Putting aside for the moment the issue of who made the discovery, she focused on the last part of what he'd said. "So you see this in terms of some sort of game?"

"Everything's a game, Sara."

"You have a rather odd outlook."

"So I've been told. But what about you? Why did you come all the way to San Francisco to look for a ritual you don't believe in?"

"I keep getting asked that. I guess because it seems fitting. It was rather disturbing, finding Seto's tomb that way."

He frowned. "What do you mean, finding his tomb?"

"I'm the one who discovered the desecrations. I sleepwalk on occasion, and for some reason I ended up in Seto's tomb that night."

His frown deepened into an almost uneasy look, and then he shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"What? It's no more ridiculous than your reasons!"

His gaze snapped back to her. "I didn't say it was ridiculous."

"You were rolling your eyes at me!"

"I was… not rolling my eyes at you."

"Yes, you were!"

"Sara…."

"Well, it's unanimous then. We're all doing this for completely absurd reasons." She lay back down beside him, propping herself up on her elbow so that she was still above him looking down. "Are you sure your real reason isn't some kind of hero complex?"

He almost choked. "Me? I've been accused of a lot of things, but having a hero complex is _not_ one of them. That is strictly Yugi's department."

"But I hear you've saved Téa's life. More than once."

He groaned louder this time, closing his eyes and putting one hand to his forehead. "I told you not to pay much attention to what those dweebs say. She saved Mokuba's life, I paid her back."

Sara grinned. "She said you'd say that, but that it wasn't true. That you actually—how'd she put it?—you have a heart somewhere buried way, way down deep."

"Téa's thinks everything is one of her boring romantic Broadway musicals. Just look how she and Yugi are, like a pair of love-struck teens straight out of some American soap opera."

Sara frowned again. "You know, every characterization I've heard of Yugi Mutou has been completely off the mark from what I've seen of him since we met. If he and Téa are love-struck, they must've had one hell of a row, because I've never seen two people more uncomfortable with each other."

Seto was looking at her with another disturbed look. "You're saying Yugi and Téa had some sort of fight?"

"I imagine so. They seemed rather close the first day I met them, but after that he didn't seem to want anything to do with her."

"_Yugi_?" he said, his eyes wide now. "Didn't want anything to do with _Téa_?"

"I take it that's odd?"

"It's more than odd. The little twerp has had a thing for her since birth. I think his head would explode if the slightest negative thought about her ever entered into it."

She smirked at him. "Well, for someone who isn't friends with these people and would be happy if he could get them out of his life forever, you're taking a rather large interest in their love lives."

He snorted. "Believe me, I couldn't care less about their love lives. But it's never a good sign when they're not acting like themselves."

"Well, they're not the only ones, are they?" She sighed. "You and I have both admitted we're not behaving as we normally do."

"No, I guess we're not."

"Why do you suppose that is?"

He looked up at her, then reached out and touched her hair, toying with a strand of it while he appeared to be considering his answer to her question. He started to say something, then shook his head. "I don't know."

An image of him summoning his white dragon during their game the night before came to her. "I don't know, either," she lied. His hand moved from her hair to her neck, and she closed her eyes, letting him pull her down to him. _This is so wrong. I'm attracted to him for all the wrong reasons—because of a dream, because of a stone carving, because of a_ game. "We really shouldn't—"

"No, we shouldn't," he agreed, his lips meeting hers.


	19. Shadow Game

**19. Shadow Game**

It was nearly two o'clock in the morning San Francisco time—almost noon in Luxor—when he felt the shadows pulling at him. He'd spent the whole morning talking with the police and government officials and panicked museum staffers, and it was difficult to get away, but he'd managed it. A half an hour later, he had barricaded himself in the study of his Luxor home. He didn't need to instruct his servants not to disturb him—those he trusted enough to work in his home knew when to leave him alone.

The path before him had finally been cleared. It was time for a Dark Game.

He sat on a high-backed leather chair by the fireplace. Fire always helped him concentrate, to connect to the Shadow Realm and to Reshef the Dark Being. In each hand, he held an Orichalcos stone.

Looking into the flames, he let them mesmerize him, pulling him into the shadows. The energy swirled around him as he sought out the familiar path to Valentine's dreams. She was there, and there were no obstructions this time. He pulled her with him, not into the sand, but into the vacant lot on a dark San Francisco street. There he called his Shadow Game, setting the terms, putting up the barriers that would separate them and prevent them from summoning their guardians without the right key. When all was ready, he issued the invitation.

_Come, Valentine. It's time to duel._

* * *

Yugi awoke with a start. He'd been dreaming about that Death Valley duel, where he was the Pharaoh fighting Yugi in spirit form, but in an instant the dream dissolved and he was wide awake to the sound of pounding on his door.

"Yugi! Open up! We need your help!"

Jumping out of bed, he ran to the door. When he opened it, Joey almost fell into his apartment. "Thank God! It's Mai, she's totally out of it, and we can't wake her up!"

Yugi followed him down the hall two doors to Mai's apartment and then through the living room and into the bedroom. There he saw Serenity on the bed beside Mai, who was lying still and lifeless. Her Duel Disk was strapped to her arm, Yugi noted, and Serenity was trying to wake her. She looked up when Joey and Yugi entered. "It's… it's almost like Battle City, when she was in a coma. She's breathing, her pulse is fine, but the shadows are everywhere."

Joey's hands clenched into fists. "No." He sounded like he'd swallowed ground glass. "Like HELL. She ain't going into no coma, _do you hear me_?" He leaned over the bed and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. "MAI, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Serenity grabbed him. "Joey, stop, you're not helping!"

He shrugged her off, shaking Mai harder. "You're not getting her, not this time, YOU HEAR ME? Wake UP, DAMMIT!" But Mai's head lolled back and she sagged limp in his arms, completely unresponsive. Serenity tried to pry Joey off of her, and Yugi joined in to help, but he wouldn't let go. Pulling her to him, he cradled her and started moaning. "Mai! Oh, God, please—Mai, wake up."

"Joey," Yugi said, his voice gentle even as he tried to pry him away. "You have to let go. This isn't like Battle City. That was _after_ she lost. Right now she's still _in_ the Dark Game. We can help her, but only if you let go."

Serenity was more authoritative. "Joey, let me see her." He looked at his sister, his eyes unfocused as if he couldn't quite see her. Then, he nodded and eased Mai back down onto the bed to let Serenity moved closer. She stroked Mai's cheek gently, then checked her pulse. After a moment, she looked up at Yugi. "I… I'm not sure if it will help, but I think maybe I should try Mystical Elf."

"No!" Joey shook his head, his hair flying in all directions. "It's bad enough she's—" He stopped, almost choking. "I'm not letting you mess with the Shadow Realm, too."

Serenity's eyes flashed in anger. "This is my area of expertise, Joey, not yours."

"Expertise? You're not even nineteen years old yet, a freshman in pre-med. How are you an _expert_?"

"I helped Téa back on the island!"

"That thing with Téa was an accident… and… and…" Joey floundered. "And you had Yugi's Puzzle box."

"She doesn't need the Puzzle box," Yugi said quietly. "If the shadows are already here, she should be able to access them."

Joey clenched his jaw. "No."

"It's not your decision, Joey." Serenity took her Mystical Elf necklace in one hand while still touching Mai's arm with the other. Her jaw was as set as her brother's, but Yugi could see uncertainty in her eyes just before she closed them. Joey reached for her, but Yugi grabbed his arm, holding him back, and with a ringing voice that was unlike her, Serenity called out for her guardian monster. "I summon Mystical Elf!"

Something like a wall of energy hit them, radiating out from Mai and slamming against them, throwing all three of them backwards. Yugi ended up on his back on the floor, and as he tried to right himself and get his bearings, he heard Joey cry out in alarm. "SERENITY!"

Quickly jumping to his feet, Yugi turned and saw Serenity crumpled against the wall. He and Joey both scrambled to her side, Joey calling her name again.

Her eyes opened, but she looked dazed. "Wha…?"

"What the hell happened?" Joey's eyes were wild.

Yugi shook his head, trying to clear it. "I don't know. It's like—"

Serenity groaned. "Locked out."

"Say what?" Joey took his sister by the shoulders. "Serenity, are you okay?"

She nodded weakly. "I'm… ow… okay."

"What do you mean, locked out?" Yugi asked.

"I don't know. It was like… a locked door slamming… in my face. I'm locked out. We all are."

_Like hell_, Yugi thought, gritting his teeth. _No one locks _me_ out of a Shadow Game_…. "Joey, you get Serenity out of here and make sure she's okay," he ordered. "Leave Mai to me."

"What?"

"Just go. I'll figure out a way to help her, I promise you that, but you need to get Serenity out of here. I'll come and get you when it's over."

Joey hesitated another moment before scooping Serenity up in his arms and carrying her toward the door. She tried to protest, but still was dazed and instead just grabbed him around the neck to hang on.

"Yuge…" Joey turned to face him.

Yugi's face felt like it was made of stone. "I will make it stop."

With one last worried look at Mai, Joey nodded and left, Serenity cradled in his arms.

Yugi went back to Mai's bedside. There was a small pile of cards on the nightstand. Grabbing them, he saw that they were the seven cards he'd given her earlier. He sorted them, putting them in a particular order. Technically that was cheating, but calling Mai into a Shadow Game through her nightmares without allowing her the choice to accept or decline the terms hardly seemed like a fair fight, and she needed the right weapons to combat the lies her nightmares told her. He started to reach for her Duel Disk, then at the last second changed his mind about the card order, pulling Dark Magician out of the stack and placing it on top.

"You forgot some cards, Mai," he said through clenched teeth, reaching for her. Leaving his hand on his Dark Magician, he slipped the seven cards into her disk on top of her deck. He closed his eyes, a long forgotten ghost of a memory coming to him, and he uttered a phrase in ancient Egyptian just before the world went black.

* * *

Tristan woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Although it was becoming commonplace for him to have trouble sleeping, this seemed somehow worse. He sat up, reflexes from his military training bringing him instantly alert. He got out of bed and pulled on a pair of pants over his boxers, then headed out of his apartment to see if there was an actual source to this bad feeling or if it was just more of the same restless sleeping. He'd barely gotten a dozen paces down the hall toward the library when he had his answer: Joey appeared around the corner, Serenity cradled somewhat limply in his arms.

"Serenity!" Tristan rushed up to give Joey a hand.

"I'm fine," she said, but she sounded weak, and he could see she clearly wasn't fine.

"What the hell happened?"

"Long story." Joey grunted from her weight.

"Joey, I can walk."

Tristan moved closer. "Let me help."

Joey hesitated a moment before letting fatigue win out. Carefully, he set her down on her feet, but still held her up while Tristan slipped on her other side and ducked under her other arm so that the two of them were supporting her. Slowly, they helped her to her apartment.

Once inside, she collapsed onto an overstuffed chair in the living room, Joey and Tristan crouching beside her, worried.

She rubbed the back of her head. "I think I might have a concussion."

"Do we need to take you to the emergency room?" Joey asked.

"I don't think so." She sounded sleepy. "Just look at my eyes and see if the pupils look the same size."

Tristan did as instructed, peering closely into her eyes. "Nope, they look normal."

"Okay." She sunk back further into her chair. "As long as I don't start throwing up a lot or have trouble waking up, I should be fine. Someone should wake me up in a couple of hours to check."

"Would anyone like to tell me what the hell happened?" Tristan asked, looking from Joey to Serenity.

Joey looked grim. "Mai had another nightmare. First, she was thrashing around and screaming in her sleep, and then she put on her Duel Disk and just went limp, so I ran and got Yugi. We couldn't wake her up, and Serenity said it felt like the Shadow Realm, so she tried to summon Mystical Elf. Instead we all got blown backwards like an explosion hit us."

Serenity shook her head. "A locked door. I was locked out."

Tristan frowned. "What do you mean, locked out?"

"Just that. It was like I tried to get into a room but was locked out."

"Yeah, while locked doors don't usually blow you off your feet when you try to open them." Joey's fists were clenched.

Tristan turned to Joey. "Like when Yugi dueled Pegasus and that dark creepy bubble thing kept us out?"

Joey considered a moment, then slowly shook his head. "Not really. Much more violent, like a force field hitting us and blowing us back. Serenity got slammed into a wall. That's how she hit her head."

"What about Mai?"

"Yugi's with her. He… he says he'll fix it."

"How?"

"I dunno, but if Yugi says he'll fix it, he'll fix it."

"He will." Serenity reached out to her brother, taking his hand.

"Dude, I'll stay here with Serenity if you wanna go back."

Joey looked tempted, but Serenity gripped his hand more firmly. "No, _Onii-chan_, you're too upset. Let Yugi help her."

Joey hung his head. "I'm making it worse. I can't… I can't even help her." He jerked his hand away from Serenity and stabbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

Tristan put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It'll be fine, bro. Yugi will fix it."


	20. Rerun

**20. Rerun**

Mai stood in a dark, vacant lot, a gray Duel Disk strapped to her arm. Unlike the usual Duel Disks put out by Kaiba Corp, this one was rounded, the field section curving around the main casing and ending in a menacing point like an animal's tusk or claw. Paradias's Duel Disk.

She bit her lip, troubled. _This isn't right. I don't duel with this kind of Duel Disk. I don't_. But when she looked up, she saw her opponent and knew that she did, in fact duel with this kind of Duel Disk. And with the Seal of Orichalcos card that went with it.

"I realize something now." Joey was across the lot, his own Duel Disk, the normal kind, at the ready. "As long as that Orichalcos thing has control of your mind, I'll never be able to talk any sense into you."

The challenge made her blood run cold. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to duel him, didn't want to call on the Seal of Orichalcos and lock them into a battle where one of them would lose their soul. But she felt like an actress in a play who could only recite the lines that had been prepared for her by someone else. "So you beat this loser and now it's gone to your head?" A toss of her own head indicated Valon, who was slumped on the ground behind her. "Why else would you be dumb enough to challenge me to a duel? You should've learned your lesson from our last duel."

Joey took his deck and slotted it into his Duel Disk. "The only way I can get through to you is to duel you."

It wasn't right. She knew it wasn't right. She knew she had to _stop_. But the words that came out of her mouth were an acceptance of his challenge, and she slotted her own deck into her disk, then went first, drawing six cards and summoning her Cyber Harpie Lady on her very first turn.

Joey drew, his hand shaking as he did, and Mai felt sick. _He's weak from dueling Valon_. It bothered her to see him like this, and it was her denial of that, the fact that he meant something to her, that had gotten her into this mess. He played Blue Flame Swordsman, equal in strength to Cyber Harpie, and ended his turn.

"You'd better not be taking it easy on me again." Her voice sounded hard and brittle to her own ears. "I want a real duel." _No_, she thought, struggling to get control of herself. She shouldn't be dueling at all! Why was she doing this?

"It's a real duel," Joey said, a weariness in his voice that made her heart hurt. "No one's going easy on anybody. I'm dueling you with all my heart and soul. It's the only way to save you."

She felt like she was underwater, trying to control her own actions, her own voice, but she couldn't. Instead, she shouted at him. "Try saving yourself! I'm doing just fine by myself. If you cramp my style, you'll end up in a world of hurt!" An image of him losing, the Seal of Orichalcos claiming his soul, rose before her. It was so clear, as if she'd already seen it happen, and she shuddered, but still she couldn't control her own actions or stop herself from playing.

She drew and summoned a second Cyber Harpie onto the field, equipping it with Arrow Nail to boost it by 300 attack points. She attacked Blue Flame Swordsman, destroying it and bringing Joey's Life Points down to 3700. The destruction of Blue Flame Swordsman activated its special effect, however, allowing Joey to special summon the original Flame Swordsman in its place. It, too, was equal in strength to the un-equipped Cyber Harpie.

He taunted her, trying to goad her into attacking him. "Is your other Cyber Harpie ready to dance?"

But Mai refused to be baited. Setting her Nightmare Tri-Mirror trap card facedown, she ended her turn.

Joey drew, then sacrificed his Flame Swordsman to summon Cyber-Tech Alligator with 2500 attack points. He destroyed her equipped Cyber Harpie, bringing her down to 3600 Life Points, but she only laughed. "Not too bad! Finally, you're giving me a real challenge! But you'll have to do better than that, because before my Arrow Nail goes to the graveyard, it transfers its power to my other Harpie."

Joey set one facedown card. "Gimme all you got."

"You're pretty confident for someone about to lose." She drew, then smiled as she looked at her new card. "I drew _it_."

Inwardly, she recoiled. The Seal of Orichalcos! If she played that, one of them would lose their soul! _I can't play it_, she thought, struggling with herself. But she did, crowing triumphantly as a glowing green seal drew itself around them, boosting all of her monsters' attack points by 500. She could feel the burning in her forehead as the matching seal there began to glow. "We're locked in the Seal, and only one of us will escape. No one can come to your rescue now, Joey. It's just you, me, and the most powerful magic card that's ever been created!"

"I was expecting this," he said with a look of grim determination, and she knew he didn't care if he lost his soul, so long as he saved her from the darkness.

The part of her that was on the outside, the part that was playing out the drama as scripted, was angered by this. Who did he think he was, saving her? She was no one's damsel in distress. But another part of her knew she needed saving. She was drowning in the darkness, and she didn't want to go under. She wanted to reach out, to grab the hand he was holding out to her, to let him pull her free of the darkness controlling her. And yet, she could do nothing but continue to duel, making him the enemy she knew he'd never really been.

She had another Cyber Harpie in her hand and she summoned it, planning to use the other Harpie equipped with Arrow Nail, which now had 2600 attack points, to destroy Cyber-Tech Alligator and then the new one could attack his Life Points directly, bringing him all the way down to 1300. She called out the first attack and the souped-up Cyber Harpie Lady charged, destroying Cyber-Tech Alligator and knocking Joey down to 3600 Life Points. She started calling out her second attack, but she caught his eye across the field, watching her with grim determination despite the fact he could barely stand after the abuse he'd already taken from Valon. In that moment, she knew she would rather die than let anything happen to him. She'd rather lose her own soul than watch him lose his. With a huge effort, as if trying to speak underwater, she got control of her own voice. "I end my turn."

Even in the dark across the vacant lot, she could see his eyes widen in surprise. "That's it, Mai? I thought you wanted a real duel!"

"Just make your move!" She lost control of herself once more, but inside, she reveled in her small victory over the darkness. She and Joey were tied and, knowing him, he'd find a way to bring her down. He wouldn't lose, not the duel, not his soul.

"I miss the old Mai," Joey said sadly as he drew, then played Swordsman of Landstar in defense mode. His hands were shaking so hard that he was having trouble getting two magic or trap cards into the correct slot on his Duel Disk, but he finally managed it, then ended his turn, wobbling like he was about to fall over.

She wanted to drop her cards and go to him, to steady him, but the darkness was forcing her to play her part. "So typical of you, Wheeler. You put on this tough guy show, but inside you're just a scared little kid. Do you honestly think you can win this duel?"

"That depends on what you mean by the word 'win.' To me, winning's about more than cards and Life Points."

"Spare me," she said, but inside she knew he was right. She'd already learned this lesson, hadn't she? Why was she learning it again?

He shook his head. "When I first met you, you told me you only cared about yourself and had no friends. I told you you should hang out with me and the others. After we dueled side-by-side, I thought you'd discovered something more important than winning—something called friendship. But I guess I was wrong. Or maybe you just forgot."

It was a sappy speech, but that was part of Joey's charm. He cared about his friends. He cared about something more than himself. He cared about _her_. She gritted her teeth, trying to break free of the darkness enveloping her so she could stop fighting, but it was too thick. "Save it! I've come too far to turn back now."

"I'll always stand by you, no matter what, and I'll never forget our friendship."

She faltered, feeling herself breaking free a little. "I… Joey… help…"

"Mai?" Concern etched his features and then he flashed a tired but broad smile. "Come on, Mai, fight it! You can fight it! Don't let the darkness control you! You can beat it!"

"I—" She struggled, wanting to forfeit. If she just put her hand on her deck, it would be over and she wouldn't have to watch the Seal take his soul. But she didn't forfeit. The darkness pulled at her and she drew, turning the card to look at it.

_What the hell…?_

The card she just drew was Dark Magician.

"Mai, fight it. You can beat this!"

She tuned him out, staring at the card in her hand. Dark Magician. Never in her life had she ever owned a Dark Magician card, and she certainly didn't have one in her deck. How the hell did it get there, then? She looked up at Joey, confused.

"Mai, what's wrong?"

"I… I don't understand." She wavered, immobile. The darkness in her was telling her it didn't matter. If she sacrificed her two Harpies, she could play Dark Magician, and the Seal would boost him up to 3000 attack points. Better yet, she had Elegant Egotist in her hand. She could multiply one of her Harpies into three first and then sacrifice two of the four to summon Dark Magician. Joey would be hard pressed to defeat a monster with that power, and she still had Nightmare Tri-Mirror, which would allow her to create as many copies of her own monsters as he had monsters on his side. If he had Scapegoat—and knowing Joey, he would—then she'd get a Dark Magician for each of his four Scapegoat tokens, giving her five total. Five monsters with three thousand attack points! He'd never be able to beat her!

Her heart, however, fought this. Something was very wrong if she had Dark Magician in her deck, and beating Joey would mean losing his soul. She'd do anything to prevent it. Anything.

But… Dark Magician. How the hell did it get in her deck?

"Mai, are you going to play?" Joey asked, and she looked up at him, frowning.

For a moment, she thought he looked different—sturdy and angry instead of shaky and exhausted. It was gone in an instant and she thought her mind—or the darkness of the Seal of Orichalcos—must be playing tricks on her, but she looked at Dark Magician again and wavered. It almost seemed to call out to her.

"Mai, are you forfeiting?"

She caught the barest glimpse of a victory smile, and the darkness won out. "You wish, Wheeler. First, I play Elegant Egotist. I believe you're familiar with that card? It multiplies one of my Harpies into three Harpie Lady Sisters, giving me four total. Then I'll sacrifice my two newest Harpie sisters to play Dark Magician!"

She didn't know whether to feel satisfied or horrified by the look of utter shock on his face. "You sacrifice… say _what_?"

She didn't answer him, instead motioning to the field as her two Cyber Harpies disappeared and in their place stood a tall, purple-robed wizard.

Joey's face darkened to look of pure fury. "Where did you get that card? You don't have a Dark Magician card!" And then the concern was back, as if he'd slipped on a mask. "Mai, don't you see what the darkness of the Orichalcos is doing to you? You're playing cards you don't even have! This isn't right! You _know_ this isn't right!"

She felt herself break through the darkness again and she faltered. It wasn't too late, she could still forfeit…. Struggling with herself, she pushed her hand out towards her deck, trying to surrender so the Seal would take her and leave Joey alone.

"Mai! Don't listen to him! That isn't Joey! You have to fight him and _win_ this duel!"

Mai stopped, startled, looking for the source of the new but familiar voice. It took her a moment to realize that it was coming from the field—from Dark Magician! Only… he'd turned to face her and what she saw made her jaw drop in surprise.

Standing on the field looking at her with fierce determination and wearing Dark Magician's robes stood Yugi Mutou.


	21. What's Real

**21. What's Real**

When the world swam into focus again, it took Yugi a moment to get his bearings. It was dark, and he was no longer in Mai's bedroom, but seemed to be in a vacant lot of some sort, one that looked very familiar. His heart then jumped to his throat when he saw that he was standing in the middle of a glowing green Orichalcos Seal. Beside him stood two Harpie Ladies, one with pink hair and one with red hair, claws sharpened and waiting for the order to attack. Each had glowing green Orichalcos seals burned onto their foreheads.

The next thing he saw was Joey standing across from him behind a holographic Swordsman of Landstar in defense mode. Joey looked beaten and worn, but there was something off about him. He was staring at Yugi with a look of pure venom. "Where did you get that card?" It took a second for Yugi to realize Joey wasn't talking to him, but to someone standing behind him. "You don't have a Dark Magician card! Mai, don't you see what the darkness of the Orichalcos is doing to you? You're playing cards you don't even have! This isn't right! You _know_ this isn't right!"

It was then that Yugi realized he wasn't wearing his regular clothes, but instead long purple robes. In his hand was a long staff with an emerald-green gem at its head, and then everything clicked.

_I'm… Dark Magician?_

Not exactly what he'd expected when he'd entered into Mai's Shadow Game, but it wasn't the first time he'd become Dark Magician in someone else's game, either. _At least the robes fit me better now_. Except… he wasn't remembering that last duel from within the robes, but rather from above, as the duelist. He gritted his teeth, pushing that thought away. He'd come here to help _Mai_. She must have brought him into the game by playing the Dark Magician card he'd stuck into her deck.

Whirling around to face her, he saw that she looked conflicted. She was dressed in black, and her Duel Disk wasn't her usual one, but was the curved, gray, feral-looking Duel Disk Dartz's gang used. Obviously, this Dark Game was a re-creation of her Orichalcos duel against Joey. As he pieced it together, he saw her look down at her Duel Disk, her hand hovering over her deck—

She was going to forfeit! In a Shadow Game…

"Mai! Don't listen to him! That isn't Joey! You have to fight him and _win_ this duel!"

She looked up, startled. It took a moment before her eyes focused on him, and then her jaw dropped in surprise. "_Yugi_? What the…?"

"Mai, think. This isn't the duel you think it is." He tried stepping towards her, but found he couldn't. He was Dark Magician, and he was stuck to the spot on the field where she had played him. "You've already fought this duel, remember? It's only a dream. Except, it's a dream turned into a Shadow Game. You can't lose!"

From the other side of the field, the false Joey tried to influence her. "Listen, Mai, don't you see what the darkness is doing to you? It's completely whacking out your mind. You can beat it! Just play."

Mai wrenched her eyes from Yugi to Joey. "Joey, I… I can't lose you…"

"You won't, not if you follow your heart instead of the darkness."

Yugi shot "Joey" a hard glare, then turned back to Mai. "Don't listen to him, Mai. That's not Joey. I know you don't want to go through your Orichalcos duel all over again, that you don't want to watch Joey lose his soul again, but that's not what's happening here. Joey—the _real_ Joey—is safe in our penthouse. He's with Serenity. He's—" Yugi paused, as he remembered the last thing he'd done before propelling himself into her Dark Game. "He's in your _deck_, Mai."

"Come on, Mai, make your move!"

Yugi could hear the pleading in the imposter's voice as he tried to manipulate her emotions. Furious, he turned to confront him. "Who are you?"

"Joey's" gaze never left Mai's. "Are you ending your turn?"

"I…"

Yugi threw a look back over his shoulder. "Mai, send me to attack Swordsman of Landstar!"

But she looked from Yugi to "Joey" and back, then sagged. "I end my turn."

Yugi growled in frustration, but at least she hadn't forfeited. He watched the fake as he drew and gave Mai a maudlin look. "I know deep down you still value our friendship, Mai. I just have to remind you." He looked at his new card. "I play Warrior Returning Alive, which allows me to bring one warrior card from my graveyard back into my hand. I choose Blue Flame Swordsman, which I'll then summon in defense mode. And that'll be it for this turn. Your move."

Yugi looked over his shoulder at Mai. Still fighting her own internal battle, she drew, and as she looked at the card, her eyes widened and she froze.

Yugi knew what card it was. "It's Red-Eyes Black Dragon, isn't it, Mai?"

Her eyes flicked from the card to Yugi and back. "How…? I… I don't understand."

"You have Joey's card in your deck to remind you that he's behind you. The _real_ Joey, not this ghost from your nightmares." He waved his staff dismissively toward her opponent. "We're all in your deck, Mai. Me, Joey, Serenity, Téa, Tristan, Duke, Rebecca. All your friends, we're all behind you."

"I… I don't have any friends." There was bitterness there, the self-loathing kind. "I gave them all up in trade for power."

"Yes, you did, but that was almost _four years ago_. You eventually came back to your friends, and we're all with you now. You've already fought this fight, Mai; don't let him make you fight it again. Play Red-Eyes and let the real Joey stand with you. Let all your friends stand with you."

The fake Joey tried again. "Mai! I don't know what that Seal is doing to your head, but you know what's real. You and me, we're real. And whatever this Orichalcos thingy is doing to mess with your mind, you _know_ that's not real. You know the power of real friendship. Trust in that and save yourself."

_The power of friendship_… Yugi narrowed his eyes as a slow smile spread across his lips. "He's right, Mai, trust in the power of real friendship. Something the Orichalcos and Dartz never even claimed they could give you. If all of this was the darkness trying to suck you in, it wouldn't be giving you your friends! Play Red-Eyes and see for yourself."

Mai frowned, considering this, then a determined look came to her face. "I sacrifice my two remaining Harpies to summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

She slapped the Red-Eyes card onto her Duel Disk, and two of her Harpie dissolved. A huge black dragon emerged, towering over Yugi. Looking up at it, he blinked. On its back was a rider clad in black armor. And he had Joey's face.

* * *

Joey and Tristan were helping Serenity from her living room to her bedroom when Joey stopped suddenly. "Did you guys feel that?"

"Feel what?" Serenity asked, sounding drowsy.

Joey shook his head. "I'm not sure." He looked across Serenity to Tristan. "Like Duelist Kingdom? It's almost like all of a sudden I can almost feel Mai."

Tristan narrowed his eyes. "I've been feeling something weird all night, but nothing as defined as that."

Joey looked at his right hand, the one that wasn't around Serenity's back. He could almost feel the mark, the one Téa had drawn seven months ago across the backs of all of their hands.

Serenity leaned on Joey. "Is she okay?"

"I don't know." Joey closed his eyes, trying to reach out to Mai. "She's… confused."

"Well, confused beats unconscious or hurt or afraid," Tristan said.

Joey opened his eyes and gave Tristan a dark look. "Yeah, but it doesn't win Shadow Games."

* * *

Mai stared at the Red-Eyes Black Dragon towering over her side of the field. _Since when does Red-Eyes have a rider?_ It reminded her of Paladin of Dark Dragon, the card that could be used to special-summon Red-Eyes, except for one thing: Paladin of Dark Dragon didn't have Joey's face.

From his perch atop Red-Eyes, the black armor-clad Paladin-of-Dark-Dragon-that-looked-like-Joey gazed down at her. Unlike the Joey standing across the field from her, who looked like he'd been dragged behind a pickup for a few miles, this Joey looked steady and alert. His eyes were sharp and intense, but not angry or hateful, despite the Orichalcos seal on his forehead, which seemed to give all the other monsters a more bloodthirsty expression. Come to think of it, Dark-Magician-who-looked-like-Yugi didn't look all that affected by the seal on his forehead either. Joey-the-knight gave her a half smile and a nod of encouragement, but didn't say a word.

"What the hell is going on here?" She glared up at him, demanding an answer, but he remained silent. _Okay, now I know that can't be the real Joey. He can't keep his big, fat mouth shut._

The other Joey, her opponent, was more characteristically chatty. "I don't know how you got a Red-Eyes, Mai, but don't think using my favorite monster against me changes anything. Whether it's you or me that walks out of this seal with their soul still in their body is up to you, but either way, I'm getting you out of this darkness, do you understand? I'm not giving you up to the darkness! Not even with Red-Eyes on your side!"

His little speech seemed to infuriate Dark-Magician-Yugi. "You know good and well how she got that card in her deck. Joey—the _real_ Joey—wanted her to have it. All her friends are with her. She won't lose!"

Joey seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Dark Magician had addressed him and that he somehow mysteriously had Yugi's face. "So what's it gonna be, Mai? It's still your move."

"I—" She looked to Yugi, who had turned to her.

"Mai, you know this is a dream. Your days with Dartz's gang are over. You're with us now. _Remember_. I gave you these cards before you went to sleep. Seven of them, one for each of your friends. That's why we're in your deck. This duel, this fight with Joey? It isn't real. You don't have to fight Joey any more. He _loves_ you, Mai. You _know_ this."

"He…?" She started at Dark-Magician-Yugi, taken aback. What on earth was he talking about? Joey couldn't _love_ her! He was just a kid, all of seventeen! And in the year since Battle City, he hadn't spoken with her or contacted her or anything. He didn't give a damn about her!

But she looked up at the figure sitting astride Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Joey's eyes looked back at her, warm and intense, and there was a flash of something else, an image or a memory of a cliff top, high above the ocean. Joey was holding her, the two of them swaying gently to music that wasn't there.

_This is real, Mai. Not the dream. Not the sand. When you hear the ocean in your dream, I want you to remember_ this. _I want you to reach for me and squeeze my hand and feel me squeeze back. You aren't alone, Mai. Whenever you reach for me, I will_ always _reach back._

She shook her head. What the hell was that? She'd never danced with Joey on a cliff top! The only place remotely like that they'd ever been together was Duelist Kingdom, but they'd only just met and he had only been fifteen! And then there was Battle City, and that was the sum total of their relationship. He didn't give a damn about her and she didn't give a damn about him.

But that was a lie and she knew it. Another flash hit her, like a buried memory resurfacing, this one of darkness, and water. Joey was half submerged, and she was holding him, trying to keep his head above the water as he shivered, his teeth chattering. _So cold…._

_No you don't, stay with me here, Wheeler! You know lifeboats nowadays are covered and heated. As soon as we get out of here, we'll get you wrapped in a blanket and on one of those heated lifeboats. Just stay with me, okay? I'm not leaving without you._

She put her hands to her head. "What's happening?"

"The Orichalcos is just a bunch of lies!" That was the Joey across the field, not the one on Red-Eyes. "Keep fighting it, Mai!"

"He's the one lying!" Dark Magician-Yugi pointed his staff at Joey again. "It's not the darkness you have to fight this time, Mai, it's the past! Remember what's _real_, what's _now_. Joey loves you. We all love you!"

A hallway in some swanky hotel. _Don't you get it, Mai? I'm in love with you._

Another hallway, this one in a convention center at some tournament. _I'm sorry we won't be together on New Year's Eve._

_Guess I'll have to find some other guy to kiss when the clock strikes twelve._

_Better make sure it's someone you hate, then, 'cause I'm gonna have to kill him._ Then, Joey was kissing her. Joey. Kissing _her_. And it was so real she could taste him on her lips. When he stopped kissing her, he looked troubled.

_Mai? I… I dunno. I just… I got a bad feeling about leaving you._

"Mai, talk to me!"

She wrenched herself back to the vacant lot, to the Joey across the field shouting at her, then looked up at the silent Joey on top of the Red-Eyes. He gave her another intense look that made a shiver run through her. It was as if he could see through her, like he _knew_ her. Like she knew _him_.

The other Joey was still shouting at her. "What's your move?"

"STOP IT!" she screamed, grabbing her ears, trying to shut him out, but even looking away, she couldn't shut out the Joey on the Red-Eyes. She looked up suddenly, narrowing her eyes as she regarded her opponent across the field. "You're not my future; you're my past."

"I can be both." But the truth wasn't in his eyes. It was in the other Joey's eyes.

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack Blue Flame Swordsman!"

"YES!" Dark Magician—no, it was Yugi—pumped his magician's staff into the air in victory, startling Mai. She'd forgotten he was there.

Across the field, Joey's eyes became sharp slivers and his whole face hardened in a way she'd never seen before. "I activate my Double Magical Arm Bind, which allows me to sacrifice two of my monsters to gain control of two of yours. I think I'll be taking _my_ Red-Eyes back from you, along with that Dark Magician."

Yugi let out a strangled cry of protest as long mechanical arms that ended in suction cups extended from Joey's side of the field and grabbed him, dragging him back with them. A second set of arms similarly captured Red-Eyes and pulled it—and its rider—to the opposite side of the field. The Orichalcos seals in their forehead disappeared, but they were still formidable, with 2500 and 2400 hundred attack points respectively.

And she had nothing.

"Joey" smirked at her. "And, of course, since my Blue Flame Swordsman went to the graveyard, the original Flame Swordsman is summoned in his place."

Mai cursed inwardly; if she'd only been left one monster, she could activate her Nightmare Tri-Mirror now that he'd special-summoned Flame Swordsman, but with nothing on her side of the field to copy, it did her no good.

"Still wanna dance, baby, or are we done here?"

She shot him a hard look. "I'm not your baby. And no, we're far from done here. I play Card of Sanctity, which allows us each to draw until we have six cards in our hand.

"Fine by me." He shrugged, drawing four more cards. She drew six and looked at them, her eyes widening in surprise yet again. Gift of the Mystical Elf. Dark Magician Girl. Command Knight. Orgoth the Relentless. Fire Princess. Mirror Wall. Of those six cards, only Mirror Wall had ever been in her deck before. But these cards…

_Serenity. Téa. Tristan. Duke. Rebecca._ Her friends. She looked over to the Dark Magician-Yugi, who nodded at her.

"Now do you understand, Mai? Do you remember?"

"I understand. But… are you really here?" She looked up at the Joey atop Red-Eyes. "Are _you_? You haven't said a word to me."

"What are you talking about?" the opponent Joey said. "Of course I'm here, and I've been talking to you all night! Where the hell have you been?"

She ignored him, listening only to Yugi as he answered her question. "The cards represent all of us, but only I'm really here."

"How?"

He shrugged, but it was an imperious kind of shrug, like he couldn't be bothered with such trivialities. "I was the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle. Do you honestly think he can lock _me_ out of a Shadow Game?"

A ghost of a smirk crossed her lips, then was gone. "What if I lose?"

Not-Joey shook his head. "You know what happens if you lose. The Seal of Orichalcos takes your soul."

"You go to the Shadow Realm," Yugi said.

"And you?"

"I keep fighting until I get you back," Not-Joey said.

Yugi met her eyes. "I go with you."

She cocked her head, feeling the weight of that responsibility on her shoulders. "Then why did you come here?"

"To get you back!"

"Because you're my friend."

She caught her breath and let it out slowly. "Then let's win this thing. Together."

Yugi smiled. "Now you're talking."


	22. A Whole New Duel

**22. A Whole New Duel**

With Mai no longer buying into the illusion that she was dueling the real Joey for his soul, it was a whole new duel, and Yugi relaxed a little. He couldn't see Mai's hand, particularly now that he was on the opposite side of the field, but he knew that five of the six cards she'd drawn were the ones he'd put in her deck, and only one of those was a trap, so when she set two facedown cards before ending her turn, one of them had to be Gift of the Mystical Elf. He had no way of knowing what the other was, nor the facedown card that had already been there even before he'd been summoned to the field, but Mai was one of the world's best duelists, and he had faith that she would pull through.

Both their souls depended on it.

It didn't look good, though. She had nothing but those three facedown cards between her and her 3600 Life Points, while "Joey" had him—Dark Magician—Red-Eyes Black Dragon, and Flame Swordsman for a combined total of 6700 attack points; more than enough to wipe her. He must've been thinking the same thing. "I could end it right here, Mai."

Yugi had to make a conscious effort to keep from grinding his teeth. The most important thing about dueling was honor, and there was nothing honorable about the way this bastard was hiding behind Joey, the person Mai was most afraid of hurting, in a reprise of the very duel where she'd hurt him the most. It was somehow worse, even, than when Marik had taken control of Joey and forced him to duel Yugi. At least he hadn't pretended to actually _be_ Joey.

"You think so?" Mai was checking her nails as if she were bored. The attitude was a little forced, but it sure beat the raw emotion and indecision. "Go ahead and try, then."

"Not yet," the fake Joey said. "I'm gonna make one last try to get through to you, to remind you of our friendship and—" He hesitated, the catch in his voice so like the real Joey that Yugi flinched. "And what you mean to me."

"Save it." Mai looked ready to tear him apart, and Yugi saw she was no longer posturing. "I don't know who you are—actually, I take that back. I know exactly who you are, _Ramesses_, oh mighty _pharaoh_." She performed a mock bow. "And I know I don't mean squat to you. I do, however, mean something to the _real_ Joey. To all my friends." She met Yugi's eye with the barest of nods. "And I won't fail them by losing to _you_."

"I don't know what crazy stories Dartz's goons told you, but I'm not giving up on you. First, I'm gonna summon Tiger Axe to the field." A giant humanoid tiger carrying an axe appeared on the other side of Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "Next I'll play my Dark Dragon Ritual card, sacrificing Gearfried the Iron Knight from my hand to do so."

Yugi groaned, knowing exactly where this was going.

"This ritual calls Paladin of Dark Dragon to the field." A knight that looked exactly like the one on Red-Eyes appeared, only this one didn't have Joey's face. "But he can't stay long, 'cause next I'm gonna sacrifice him to summon my old friend Red-Eyes Black Dragon."

A second Red-Eyes, this one without the armor-clad rider, appeared in place of the black-cloaked knight beside Tiger Axe. "See, Mai? This is _my_ Red-Eyes."

"Oh, am I supposed to be impressed now?" She crossed her arms. "That's an awful lot of trouble to go to just to get a monster on the field you can't even use this turn, especially considering you're so sure you already have more than enough attack points to get the rest of my Life Points."

"If there's any player in the game I know, Mai, it's you." He was oozing with implied intimacy, and Yugi couldn't help but look over his shoulder and glare at him as he continued to bait Mai. "With three facedown cards, you're far from helpless. If I'm gonna attack you, it's gonna be with every big gun I've got." He pulled a card from his hand and flipped it forward so Mai and Yugi could see it. "So here's the biggest gun of all. Say hello to the Claw of Hermos."

Yugi and Mai both reacted with a start. Claw of Hermos had been a card Joey had only had briefly while they'd been fighting against Dartz and his gang. It was a one-of-a-kind card that had ceased to exist as soon as the Leviathan that it had been created to fight had been defeated. Though a re-creation from Mai's memory of a duel where Joey almost certainly would have used that card, this still was a real Shadow Game, and Yugi hadn't expected him to be able to call on a monster that only existed in the past. Then again, Mai had played a Seal of Orichalcos, something she no longer had in her deck. There was an infinite variety of Dark Games, and the line between possible and impossible wasn't always easy to discern.

"I play my Claw of Hermos, fusing it with _my_ Red-Eyes to create the Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword, which I'll equip to my Flame Swordsman." He looked up at Mai. "Do you still think I'm not really Joey Wheeler?"

Yugi noticed "Joey" didn't so much as glance his way, but he still got the distinct impression that he was very much aware Yugi was here after all, and ignoring his presence had been part of the act to convince Mai the Orichalcos was making her see things.

Mai, for her part, seemed to falter when she saw Hermos. "That card. How…?"

"I got it dueling _you_, remember?"

"I—"

"Mai!" Yugi drew her attention to him. "Don't lose sight of the truth. He's playing from your memory. _Remember_."

Slowly, she began to nod. "I do remember." She looked at Joey. "Flame Swordsman gets a thousand extra attack points, right?"

"Fifteen hundred, actually." Joey sounded weary again, but Yugi knew it was part of the act. "One thousand plus an extra five hundred for every dragon on the field. So thanks to the Red-Eyes you summoned, Flame Swordsman now has thirty-three hundred attack points. Now, I might be a little hazy on the math, but I believe with Red-Eyes, Dark Magician, and Tiger Axe, that gives me more than enough to take out your 3600 Life Points. _5900_ more, to be exact." He nodded at Mai's three facedown cards. "You got enough there in your facedown cards to stop _9500_ attack points?"

"I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Mai shrugged as if completely indifferent.

Joey smirked. "You're bluffing, Mai."

Even Yugi wasn't sure himself whether she was or wasn't. Gift of the Mystical Elf would definitely help, but it wasn't enough, not alone anyway. Although…. He considered what he knew of Mai's deck. If one of those cards was what he hoped it was….

"I know your deck," Joey said, "and I know exactly what you're planning, but it won't be enough to stop 9500 attack points."

"Then call my bluff."

"You got it, sweetheart. Dark Magician, attack her directly with Dark Magic Attack!"

As if he had no will of his own, Yugi raised his staff and pointed it at her. He struggled against the compulsion, but he couldn't stop the attack. As long as he was a monster on Joey's side of the field, he had to follow Joey's orders. He flinched as a green shaft of energy shot out of his staff and arced toward her.

"I activate my Mirror Wall trap card!"

Yugi nearly crowed in triumph when a huge mirror went up, reflecting back his attack and cutting it in half. The rest of the energy hit her, blowing her back, and she shielded her face with her Duel Disk, but her Life Points only went down by 1250 instead of 2500, leaving her with 2350.

"Nice try, but it's not enough. There's still Red-Eyes, Flame Swordsman with his Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword, and Tiger Axe left. That's 7000 attack points left, and half of 7000 is 3500. Still more than enough."

But Yugi smiled, knowing what one of those facedown cards was. He caught Mai's eye and she gave him a barely perceptible nod as "Joey" called his next attack. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon, you're next!"

The armor-clad Joey atop Red-Eyes didn't look any happier about attacking Mai than Yugi had been, but the dragon beneath him charged forward, preparing its attack.

Mai pointed at her second facedown card. "Activate Gift of the Mystical Elf!"

A tall, blue-skinned woman in a flowing green gown and white headdress rose from the card, her hands cradling a glowing sphere of brilliant white light. But instead of her usual long blonde hair, this Mystical Elf's hair was red, and even with blue skin, her face was unmistakably Serenity's.

The Serenity-Elf looked over her shoulder at Mai and nodded. Mai, startled at first by her resemblance to her friend, recovered after a moment and smiled in return before Serenity turned to face Yugi and "Joey's" side of the field. Uttering a wordless chant, she released her sphere. It settled on Mai, increasing her Life Points by 1200; 300 for every monster on the field. Then Mystical Elf nodded to Yugi and to Mai once more before disappearing.

"I now have 3550 Life Points. You were saying?"

Yugi looked over his shoulder and saw "Joey" scowl. Red-Eyes finished its attack, dropping Mai's Life Points back down to 2350, then Flame Swordsman and Tiger Axe followed, taking 1650 and 650 Life Points respectively. When the dust cleared and Mai recovered from the direct attacks, she was only a hairsbreadth away from losing, but 50 Life Points was still enough to keep her—and Yugi—out of the Shadow Realm for now, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Way to go, Mai!"

Still pretending he was unaware of Yugi's presence, the Joey imposter congratulated her as well. "Great move, Mai, but you're down to 50 Life Points, you still have no monsters on the field, and you lose Mirror Wall as soon as you draw unless you can pay 2000 Life Points to keep it, and I'm thinking that's a little bit too steep for you right now."

"But it's my move." She drew, smiling as she looked at her card, and Yugi's heart stopped pounding—she had something good. Mirror Wall disappeared, but her smile remained. "I remember how this went in our real Orichalcos duel after Joey played Hermos. As I recall, I pointed out that your Flame Swordsman is only as strong as his weapon. And this time around, you also have a couple of things that belong to me that I want back. I play Harpie's Feather Duster!"

A huge feather appeared on the field and swept away all of Joey's spell and trap cards, including his facedown cards, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon Sword, and Double Magical Arm Bind. Yugi felt like a restraint had been released and he was pulled as if by a magnet back to Mai's side of the field along with the Red-Eyes Black Dragon and its armor-clad rider with Joey's face.

"When Double Magical Arm Bind is destroyed by the effect of a spell, trap, or monster, it allows me to special summon one monster from my graveyard." Joey was now across the field from Yugi instead of behind him. He swayed, as if unsteady from exhaustion. "I bring back _my_ faithful Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

It appeared on the field with a roar, taking its place beside Tiger Axe and the reduced-power Flame Swordsman. "Remember how I first got Red-Eyes, Mai? It was all because of you. I won him from Rex Raptor at Duelist Kingdom because you bribed him into playing me. You hated me at first, just like you hate me now, but after that duel with Rex we became friends. You even gave me that card I needed to play in the Duelist Kingdom finals, remember? This Red-Eyes is a symbol of that, Mai."

Yugi felt another wave of fury wash over him. "Those memories belong to Joey and Mai, not to you! Don't you dare try to manipulate her with memories of what _Joey_ means to her. You are _not_ Joey!"

Her eyes flicked up to the Joey that was still astride the Red-Eyes on her side of the field and she nodded. "You're right. Red-Eyes does remind me of how Joey and I met, and how we became friends, just like Dark Magician reminds me of my friendship with Yugi and Mystical Elf reminds me of Serenity. I have a lot of friends now. You can't manipulate me as easily as Marik or even Dartz, because I know who my friends are. In fact, I'm going to have another of my friends join us now. Munchkin, you're up!"

She played a card in one of her monster slots, and Rebecca Hawkins, dressed in the flaming orange robes of Fire Princess, appeared beside Yugi, a green Orichalcos seal burned into her forehead. Mai winked at "Joey." "Now lets see, that puts us at three monsters each. Let's tango, shall we, _lover_?"

"Anytime, baby."

Yugi felt an urge to throttle him, so when Mai ordered Dark Magician to attack the opposing Red-Eyes, he relished the task of destroying the dragon that belonged to the real Joey, not this phony. Mai then called on her own Red-Eyes to attack Flame Swordsman, and Fire Princess to attack Tiger Axe. With the 500-point boost they each got from the Seal of Orichalcos, "Joey" lost a total of 2200 hundred Life Points, bringing him to 1400. The force of the blow from each attack nearly knocked him off his feet, and he stood crouched over, his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

The imposter looked up from his hunched position. "That was an awesome move. You might be under an evil spell, but you haven't lost your touch. You're still one of the greatest duelists I know. I may be about to pass out, but this is fun."

Mai's expression clouded when she saw how weak he looked, but she bit her lip and hardened her gaze. "Oh, cut the act, drama queen. This duel is over on the next turn and you know it."

"I still got plenty of fight left in me." His appearance belied his words, however—act or not, it didn't look to Yugi like he'd be able to remain standing through another turn. His hand was shaking so badly that he had trouble grabbing the top card of his deck to draw.

Mai averted her eyes, biting her lip harder and Yugi saw that even knowing it was a lie, she was struggling with having to watch Joey suffer.

"It's all an act," Yugi reminded her.

"I know. Doesn't make it any more fun to relive."

He nodded. "Then, let's win this thing and get out of here."


	23. The Worst Moment

**23. The Worst Moment**

When Joey finally grabbed hold of the top card in his deck, he looked at it and placed it immediately on the field. "I summon my Little Winguard in attack mode."

Mai shook her head. "What for? It can't protect you from three monsters, the weakest of which has 1800 attack points."

"No, but this can," he said, slotting one of the two remaining cards in his hand into the spell/trap opening on his Duel Disk. "Swords of Revealing Light!"

Several swords of glowing white light descended on them from the sky, forming a sort of cage around Mai, Yugi, Red-Eyes, and Fire Princess, preventing them from attacking for three turns.

"You bought yourself a little time, but that's all. Now it's my turn." Mai drew, then called out her plays. "First I'll switch Fire Princess to defense mode." She turned the Fire Princess card sideways on her Duel Disk, causing "Rebecca" to kneel down on the field. "And next, I think I'll bring another one of my friends out into the lineup. You remember _your_ best friend, don't you, 'Joey?'" She played another monster card sideways, and Command Knight materialized beside Fire Princess. He was covered in a strange serrated armor and had Tristan's face. He, too, was kneeling in defense posture.

While Mai made her moves, Yugi studied the field. "Joey" had the relatively weak Little Winguard and one card in his hand. It was something that had been in his hand for some time, even before drawing Card of Sanctity, since the last few turns he'd played all the cards he drew. He could just be biding his time with a useless card in his hand, holding her off with Sword of Revealing Light until he drew a card that would help him, but what could help him overcome monsters with 3000 and 2900 attack points respectively? Yugi thought about Joey's deck and strategies as they were nearly four years ago when he'd actually played this duel against Mai. What did he have in his deck that could defeat such powerful monsters?

And then he knew.

"Mai," he said quietly, turning to face her. "Do you see his strategy? Do you know what he has in his hand?"

Mai looked at the field and considered it. After a moment, her eyes widened in recognition. "Gilford the Lightning. I remember now. He played it early in our real duel, so he's gotta have it in his hand. This duel started out as a card-for-card replay of the original. So if that's true and he gets two more monsters before Swords of Revealing Light expires, he can sacrifice all three to summon Gilford—"

"Which will destroy every monster on your side of the field and you'll be open to his attack."

She nodded, contemplating her cards. "Okay, I have a card that will get us around Swords of Revealing Light, but it's gonna take some tricky timing and some real luck of the draw. I know, I know, 'trust in the Heart of the Cards,'" she said when Yugi opened his mouth to say something. He closed his mouth again and grinned at her.

The fake was quickly losing patience with them, however. "You gonna sit there and talk to your cards all day or are you gonna duel?"

"You in such a big hurry to lose? Well, then, I'll be happy to oblige. Last but never ever least, it's time to bring back my oldest friend, Cyber Harpie Lady." She played Monster Reborn, which brought her pink-haired Cyber Harpie back from the graveyard. The glowing Orichalcos seal on her forehead boosted her attack to 2300. "And I think that's enough for now."

Joey drew, hand still shaking, and played the card directly onto the field, summoning The Fiend Megacyber. "My Fiend Megacyber's a level-six monster, but his special effect allows me to special-summon him from my hand without a sacrifice if my opponent has at least two more monsters on the field than I do. So thanks for helping me out there, Mai."

"Anytime, especially since you just did me a favor in return." Mai smiled in triumph. "By special-summoning a monster to the field, you've allowed me to activate my Nightmare Tri-Mirror card, which gives me one copy of one of my monsters for every monster you have on the field. I'll take two more Cyber Harpies, thank you very much."

"Wait! You can't have seven monsters on the field!"

"Oh, but this Orichalcos seal on my forehead says I can," she said, pointing to herself. "Or have you forgotten that the Seal of Orichalcos doubles the number of monsters I'm allowed on the field?"

"Fine, but with The Fiend Megacyber's 2200 attack points, you can say good-bye to your Fire Princess." The Fiend Megacyber slashed at Fire Princess and she disintegrated without so much as a murmur of protest from "Rebecca."

"So long, Munchkin. Thanks for being here for me." Mai gave a nod of gratitude in the direction of the departed Fire Princess, then drew, setting the card she had just drawn facedown into a spell/trap slot. She lowered her voice and leaned toward Yugi. "This will protect my Life Points if he does successfully summon Gilford. But what about you? What happens if you go to the graveyard? If I win with you in the graveyard, will you still come back with me?"

Yugi met her gaze unwavering. "I've been in one other Shadow Game where real souls replaced monsters on the field. The graveyard was a dangerous place. No, I don't think I will come back with you if you win while I'm in the graveyard."

Her eyes widened in alarm. "But Rebecca and Serenity? They're okay, right, since they aren't really here?"

He offered her a reassuring smile. "They're safe."

"But you are really here. You came just to help me." Mai set her jaw. "All right then, protecting my Life Points isn't good enough. We have to destroy those monsters _before_ he can sacrifice three to summon Gilford. If he doesn't draw a monster on the next turn, we're good to go because Swords of Revealing Light will expire before he can get enough monsters to tribute and we can just attack."

Yugi stroked his chin. "On the other hand, if he gets Monster Reborn or some other card that will allow him to special summon the third monster, he can summon Gilford on the same turn."

Mai put her right hand on her hip and tilted her head. "I don't suppose Heart of the Cards works for us in reverse on the other guy's deck?"

"Well, seeing as he's got Joey's deck but it isn't really Joey, then I think we have the definite advantage in terms of connection." He had the feeling he knew what her strategy was and what she needed. "You, on the other hand, are deeply bonded to all your Harpie cards."

"You're talking to your cards again, Mai," Joey said. "That Orichalcos is making you nuttier than I thought. You done or what?"

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "It's your move."

Yugi watched carefully, hoping "Joey" would draw a trap or spell that would not allow him to special summon a monster. It took him about four tries to steady his hand enough to grab onto the top card of his deck. Mai looked away again and Yugi tapped his foot impatiently, wanting the charade to be over. Finally, "Joey" pulled the card out and after looking at it, played it, summoning Panther Warrior. Yugi wasn't sure whether to feel anxious or relieved—"Joey" now had three monsters, which was enough to sacrifice for Gilford, but because Panther Warrior was normal summoned, he would have to wait one more turn. With Swords of Revealing Light still in effect, it all came down to Mai's last draw.

Yugi turned to watch Mai as she drew, and knew instantly she'd gotten exactly what she needed. He smiled at her. "I told you. Always trust the Heart of the Cards."

She looked up at "Joey." "Time to end this duel so I can finally move on with my life—"

She stopped suddenly, her hand, still holding the card she'd just drawn, popping up to cover her mouth as a horrified look came to her eyes.

"Mai?" Yugi's brow furrowed in concern. "What is it?"

"That's exactly what I said the last time, when I—" She stopped again with a gasp. "Oh, God, Joey…"

Yugi followed her gaze across the lot where "Joey" was barely able to stay on his feet. He smiled at her, teetering dangerously. "Come on, Mai, play your card and win. I know you have something powerful in your hand. How you use it is up to you. But you're one of the greatest duelists I know, and I'm sure you're gonna make the right decision. Underneath all that anger and frustration is a good person."

"No—" Her face was pale. "Not again, I can't do this again…."

"Mai!" Yugi snapped at her, trying to get her attention. "You know this isn't real. That that isn't Joey. You're not letting the Orichalcos get him again—he's safe back in our penthouse, waiting for you."

"I know, but—" She looked past Yugi to where Joey was swaying on his feet. "I can't go through it again, I can't. Joey…."

Yugi tried to go to her, but he was still locked in his place on the field. "Mai, I know you love him and you don't want to relive seeing him get hurt—"

"Not just _getting_ hurt. Not like it's something I just stood by and _watched_. I _did_ it to him. It was the worst thing I ever did. How can you of all people ask me to do it again?"

"I'm not asking you to do it again." He sighed. "Listen, Mai, you're right. I know better than anyone how much you don't want to relive the worst moment of your life, when you hurt the one person who meant everything to you. But do you know what the worst moment of _Joey's_ life was? It was when he lost _you_. When Marik sent you to the Shadow Realm and we couldn't wake you up, that was the worst moment of Joey's life. Are you willing to put him through that again just so you can try to rewrite your own memories? You can choose not to play that card and you can lose this duel, but that won't change the past, will it? It won't change the fact that four years ago, you did win, and Joey did lose his soul. But you know how the story ends. You know what comes next. You don't have to be stuck _here_."

On the other side of the field, "Joey" called out to her. "Congratulations, Mai. You win." He managed a wan smile before collapsing to his knees.

She cried out, almost dropping her cards. _"No!"_

"MAI!" For a moment, Yugi thought she would forfeit, but she stayed rooted to her spot as if by sheer force of will.

"I can't stop what the Orichalcos did to you," she said, grief etched in every word, and Yugi realized she wasn't addressing the Joey on his knees across the field, but rather the one riding high astride Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "But I'll be damned if I'm gonna be responsible for your best friend going to the Shadow Realm."

As if the card in her hand was nearly too heavy to lift, she heaved her arm up and jammed the card face up into one of the spell/trap slots on her Duel Disk. Immediately, the three Harpies on the field clustered together in front of Yugi, settling into a formation he knew even before they'd moved—Harpie Lady Phoenix Formation. For each Harpie in the Phoenix Formation, one monster on the opposing side of the field was destroyed, its attack points counted as damage against the owner's Life Points, and because it was the effect of a spell card and not a monster attack, Swords of Revealing Light couldn't stop it. Electric blue light emanated from the three Harpies, producing a ghostly image of a giant flaming bird, which attacked Joey's Little Winguard, Fiend Megacyber, and Panther Warrior, eradicating all three of them. Joey, already on his knees, was blown backwards as 5600 hundred points of damage were hurtled at him and his Life Points dropped to zero.

Bathed in the blue light of the plasma-like phoenix, Joey shimmered and then, to Yugi's horror, it looked like he was melting. Mai made a gurgling sound as blue denim, blond hair, and pale flesh all dripped off him like wax off a candle, then split open, cracking off of him as if it were some giant Joey-shaped cocoon. Underneath was a monster with dark bronze armor that spiked out from its shoulders, bronze claws, and a chain mail skirt also made of bronze. The three energy bands connecting its arms and lower torso to its chest glowed greenish-white, with blue, yellow, and orange balls of fluorescent light in the middle of each band.

"Reshef!" Mai called the monster's name at the same moment that Yugi recognized it—Reshef the Dark Being, Ramesses' signature monster. Then Reshef, in turn, evaporated in the glow of the phoenix's light just before Yugi was swallowed by nothingness.

* * *

Monarch's eyes flew open and he gasped for air. No longer in a vision of a vacant lot in San Francisco, he was in his own study in Luxor, sitting in front of the fireplace.

He _lost_. He'd had her, she would've forfeited, but she _beat_ him. Thank the gods it was not a full-out war like the last time. Playing by proxy through Reshef had protected him from any lasting damage from losing a Dark Game, and no one had thought to call a Penalty Game on him before it was over, but still, he _lost_.

It wasn't his fault—he could hardly be expected to win with Wheeler's pathetic deck—but he would've won anyway, if not for the boy.

Damn Yugi Mutou! How had he gotten into the Dark Game? How had he gotten past the locks and barriers Monarch had so careful to put into place? He gripped his fists on the arms of his chair, furious. Well, next time he would be ready for him. Valentine was merely a stepping-stone to the others, and when he invited his next opponent into a Dark Game, if Yugi Mutou chose to interfere again, he'd be ready.


	24. Back

**24. Back**

Joey paced around Serenity's living room, feeling caged and completely helpless. Serenity was asleep in _her_ bedroom, Mai was in God knew what condition in her bedroom, and Yugi still hadn't come to tell him she was okay. What the hell was going on in there?

"Dude, you're making me seasick," Tristan said from where he was lying on Serenity's couch, a blanket thrown over him. "Chill, wouldja?"

"Chill?" Joey gaped at him. "I've got a sister with a concussion and a girlfriend in the middle of some freaky-ass Dark Game, and you expect me to _chill_?"

"Then go find out what's going on."

"Serenity—"

"Will be fine. I'll watch over her and wake her in a little bit to make sure she's okay."

Joey's eyes narrowed. "I don't think so."

Tristan clenched his jaw and glared up at him. "You'd better not be thinking what I think you're thinking. She's _hurt_. What kind of sleazebag do you think I am?"

Joey blew a breath out in frustration. "I don't think you're a sleazebag. I'm just… argh! I don't like feeling so helpless. Serenity… and Mai…"

"I will look out for Serenity. Go check on Mai and Yugi."

Joey considered this. "I don't know…." He looked from the door out of Serenity's apartment to the door into her bedroom and back.

"Just go. Serenity will be fine."

"I… yeah, I think you're right. I gotta know what's going on in there." He looked down at Tristan. "You'll wake Serenity in a little bit?"

Tristan looked at his watch. "In one hour and seventeen minutes. I set an alarm."

"Okay then, I'm going. Thanks, pal."

"You got it, bro."

Joey left Serenity's apartment and walked quickly down the hall. By the time he reached the library at the top of the stairs, he was jogging. Mai's door was the first one on the east side of the building, closest to the library. As he approached her door, he automatically reached into his back pocket for the keycard to her room… and stopped short. He was wearing pajama pants with no pockets. He'd left the keycard inside, and a quick check of the door handle showed that the door was indeed locked. _Damn_. He let his head hit the door in frustration, banged it a few more times for good measure, then pressed his ear to the wood to see if he could hear anything inside, but there was nothing. _Damn damn damn damn damn._

Not sure what else to do, he turned around and went back to the landing, flopping down on the loveseat there, giving him a good view of Mai's door. Five minutes. He'd give it five minutes and then he was calling security downstairs and having someone open the door for him.

Five minutes.

* * *

Something was moving beneath him. There was a groan, then more movement, and slowly Yugi began regaining a sense of himself in space. He was sprawled on his stomach, his face pressed flat against something soft—a down comforter?—but underneath was a shifting lumpy mass.

"Not that I'm not grateful, but people are gonna talk."

Yugi finally managed to open his eyes and realized where he was: Mai's bedroom.

Lying on top of Mai.

As if struck by lightning, he bolted upright and backed away from her, almost falling off the bed. "Mai! Are you all right?"

She struggled to sit up, but it seemed to take a lot of effort, and she only made it into a slouch against the headboard. "Really tired. And I could live without ever seeing someone _melt_ again, but yeah."

"Yeah, right with you there. You did it, though. You beat it."

"Yeah, I did. I—" She stopped as if she'd just realized something and looked around, panicky. "Wait, where's Joey? Why isn't he here?"

Yugi reached out and put a hand on your shoulder. "It's okay. He's with Serenity. He was a little hysterical when you went limp, so I sent him off to take care of her."

She frowned. "Take care of her? Why? What happened?"

"She tried to summon Mystical Elf, and we all got blown backwards like something exploded on top of us. Serenity hit her head on the wall."

"What? Is she okay?" Mai struggled to sit up all the way, but Yugi restrained her with his hand.

"She's fine, Mai. Just a little dazed, that's all. But you're exhausted."

"Don't give me that crap. She must've been hurt pretty bad for Joey not to have come back."

"I told him not to." Yugi pushed her more firmly back down. "You need to lie down. I'll go get him and tell him you're all right."

At last she relented, slumping back against the headboard once more. "Why would summoning Mystical Elf knock you all on your asses like that? That's never happened before."

Yugi shook his head. "I'm not sure, but it seems like somehow we were locked out."

"Locked out? I don't get it."

"I'm not sure I do, either," he said. "I don't know how Ramesses found a way to use your nightmare to start a Dark Game against you, but he obviously didn't want any of us to be able to help you by summoning our monsters. He found some way to block us."

"But you got in."

He nodded. "I told you, I was the bearer of the Millennium Puzzle."

She leaned back further, fighting to keep her eyes opened. "What the hell was the whole Wes Craven thing anyway? How did he get into my _dreams_ and turn them into a Shadow Game?"

"I don't know. But we'll find out. And I don't think it will happen again, do you? You beat it."

She lost the battle with fatigue and closed her eyes, nodding slightly. "Yeah, I feel…different, like maybe I can sleep again for the first time in a week."

"I think that's just what you need." Yugi got up off the bed. "I'll go find Joey and Serenity and tell them you're okay, but you sleep."

"Mm hm." She opened her eyes again and looked up at him. "Yugi?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for coming after me. I think I would've forfeited if you hadn't been there. Anything to not do that to Joey again."

"I know," he said softly.

"I'm so grateful for all of Joey's friends."

"Not Joey's friends, Mai. _Your_ friends. And we'll always come after you. That's a promise." He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she was already asleep.

* * *

"Joey, is everything all right?"

Joey started, sitting up quickly. "Mai?" he asked, bleary, then realized it was Téa hovering over him. "Oh, it's you." He slumped down in his seat, disappointed. He must've dozed off. How long had he been out, and where the _hell_ were Mai and Yugi?

"Thanks a lot," Téa said dryly, and Joey looked up at her.

"Oh, hey, no, I'm sorry Téa." He shook his head, then got a good look at her and frowned. She was wearing dance clothes and was sweaty, so she'd obviously been downstairs in the practice room dancing, which usually made her practically glow. But instead she looked… faded, somehow. Her eyes were puffy and red and her face was drawn and pinched like she ached everywhere, and not from pulling a muscle. He reached out and touched her arm. "Hey, are you okay? 'Cause I haven't seen you since we went over to Kaiba's the other day and, no offense, but you don't look too good."

"Yeah, well a day spent wallowing in self-loathing will do that to you." She sat down beside him with a huff.

His frown deepened and he put a hand on her knee. "Okay, that definitely don't sound good."

She sighed. "I don't know, I think it might've been long overdue." Then she tilted her head and looked at him. "But I'm not the one sleeping on the couch in the hallway. And you don't look great yourself, by the way. What's going on? You and Mai have a fight or something?"

Joey choked out a strangled laugh. "A fight, yeah." He rubbed his eyes. "Actually, she—"

Téa cut him off with a gasp, her gaze drifting past him to something over his shoulder. _"Yugi?"_

Joey shot up out of his seat and spun around to face the east hallway so quickly he almost toppled over. Yugi stood frozen beside Mai's door, his hand on the doorknob.

"Yuge!" Joey wasn't sure whether to be relieved or alarmed by Yugi's odd expression. "You're… and Mai… is she… she… what the hell is going on?"

"Yeah, I'd kinda like to hear that myself," Téa said behind him in a voice so tight it sounded like it might crack, and it suddenly hit Joey exactly how this looked.

"Oh _crap_." Groaning, he spun back to face her as quickly as he'd turned toward Yugi before. She had also gotten to her feet and looked a little sick. He grabbed her shoulders. "No no no, Téa, listen, this is _so_ not what it looks like. Mai, she's been having nightmares again and somehow it turned into a Shadow Game and Yugi was trying to help her—"

_"What?"_ Téa's focus shifted from Yugi to Joey._ "A Shadow Game?"_ She looked back over Joey's shoulder toward Yugi, her expression less accusatory but even more alarmed. "Yugi?"

Joey let go of her and faced Yugi once. "What happened, Yuge? Is she okay?"

Yugi nodded, walking toward them. "She's asleep."

"Asleep?" Joey moved toward her door. "How do you know she's just asleep and not still in some Shadow Game? I gotta go see—"

"She's fine, Joey." Yugi stepped in his way and putting a hand out to stop him. "She won. Let her sleep. We need to talk."

"She…? Wait. How do you know?"

"Because I was in the Shadow Game with her."

"You—?" Joey sucked in a breath. "Say what?"

"Would somebody please explain what's going on? How did you and Mai end up in a Shadow Game?" Téa's hands were on her hips, and she had that _look_ she got when she was ready to knock one of them upside the head.

"I'm not exactly sure." Yugi sat down in one of the chairs beside the loveseat. He looked exhausted, Joey realized as he and Téa both sat back down in the loveseat together. Yugi gave Téa a brief summary of Mai's nightmares, how at times she seemed unaware of hers or Joey's existence, a rundown of Joey and Mai's trip to see Rafael, and finally what had happened in Mai's apartment up until the point Joey had left with Serenity. "How is Serenity, by the way?"

"She's okay. Thinks she has a concussion. Tristan's watching over her. But tell me what happened to Mai." Joey squeezed his hands on his knees trying to drain off some of his agitation.

"Somehow her nightmare became a Dark Game that was a re-creation of her Orichalcos duel with you." Yugi then went on to detail the duel, how he had managed to enter the game as Dark Magician, and the final outcome. Téa's eyes grew rounder and rounder as he talked, her hand covering her mouth.

Joey was bouncing his knees up and down, his fists banging on them harder and harder, and when Yugi described how the duel ended, rattling his legs was no longer enough to dispel the angry energy. He jumped to his feet, snarling. "I'll kill him. So help me, God, when we figure out who this son of a bitch is, I'm gonna kill him. I… _fuck_. I gotta go make sure she's okay—"

Yugi got to his feet as well, putting himself between Joey and Mai's door once more. "Not until you calm down."

Joey almost laughed in his face—like a guy Yugi's size was gonna stand in his way—but Yugi's eyes had that _don't fuck with me_ expression he'd managed to inherit from the Pharaoh, and Joey didn't move. "You don't understand, Yuge. That bastard took the one moment in her life she wished she could have back and do differently, and he forced her to make the _same choice again_. It took her _three years_ to get over it the first time, and to top it off, he makes it look like I freaking _melted_ like the goddamn Wicked Witch of the West. She needs to see I'm okay right _now_, that she didn't do anything to me!"

"She _knows_. When it ended, he turned into Reshef."

Joey exploded. "You don't get it! You weren't there when she won that duel. You didn't see how it affected her!"

"I of all people get it," Yugi said in a voice that seemed to ring out despite the fact that he was speaking somewhat quietly. "The whole _point_ was making her relive the one fight she'd want to lose. But she didn't lose, because she remembered. She had all our guardian cards, and she remembered who she is today and who her friends are, and she beat it. He can't ever use that against her again. She _won_, Joey, do you understand? It's _over_."

Joey shook his head. "I don't get it, Yuge. How did he do this? And why Mai?"

"I don't know. That's what we need to figure out."

Joey sat down again and Téa put a comforting hand on his knee. He put his own hand on top of hers and squeezed it.

As Yugi sat back down as well, Téa asked, "So is this somehow related to—" She hesitated, then tried again. "Is this related to what happened to Atem and Seto?"

"Well, I doubt the timing is coincidence." Yugi's eyes seemed to turn inward as he thought about it, reminding Joey of when Atem was still with him and they would hold their conversations that no one else could hear. "But whether or not there's a cause/effect relationship or if the one is a distraction from the other, I don't know. And like Joey said, why Mai? She wasn't one of the four of us most affected by what happened to the tombs."

"But all of us have been messed up since then," Joey said. "When was the last time any one of us got a good night sleep?"

Téa leaned forward. "But were we all feeling the desecrations and that's why Mai was vulnerable, or were we all feeling what was happening to Mai?"

Yugi nodded. "Exactly. We don't know. And what triggered Mai's nightmares in the first place? We still don't know anything more than we did before, except that Ramesses is definitely involved, and he can somehow turn a nightmare into a Dark Game."

"Well, hopefully Marik will have the missing piece when he gets here," Joey said.

Téa frowned. "When Marik gets here? Since when is Marik coming here?"

"I called him this morning, or I guess now it was yesterday morning." Yugi shifted in his seat slightly. "I wanted to see if he could shed some light onto why Mai keeps having nightmares because of her Shadow Game with him, and he thought he should come out and see for himself. He'll be here by Friday."

"Listen, Yuge, we can talk about this until we're blue in the face, but we're not gonna figure anything more out tonight, and I really just wanna be with Mai."

Yugi nodded. "Yes, I don't think there's anything more we can do right now. First thing in the morning we'll get everyone together and hash this all out."

Joey started to rise, and then groaned. "Oh crap, I just remembered. I don't have the keycard to her room."

"I left the door unlocked when I came out."

Joey smiled in relief and gave a nod of thanks as he left and went back to Mai's room.

In her bedroom, he found her sleeping, just as Yugi said. For the first time since before they'd left for London, she looked peaceful. Quietly, he slipped into the bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her. She turned into his embrace, nuzzling against him.

"Hey, you," she said without opening her eyes.

"Hey, yourself." He stroked her hair. "You okay?"

"I won."

"I know. You done good, Mai."

"Mmmmm. I knew you were really on the dragon. At first I forgot, but the you on the dragon made me remember how we danced on the cliff, and I then knew which you was real."

"Uh, okay." He kissed her forehead, not bothering to try to follow her train of thought.

"I knew it wasn't really you when I played the Phoenix Formation. I wouldn't have done it again if it was really you."

"Shh, I know baby, I know. Go back to sleep. It's all over now. Everything's fine."

"Mmm." She snuggled closer him. "I know."


	25. Two Halves

**25. Two Halves**

An uncomfortable silence settled over Téa and Yugi as soon as Joey left. Téa's guilt over not making it clear to Yugi how much he mattered to her separate from Atem mixed with the fearful realization that she'd just come very close to losing him to a Shadow Game.

Again.

"I'm so glad you're back safe," she finally said, reigning in her tangled emotions as tightly as she could.

He looked embarrassed and ill at ease "Are we… I mean… I know things have been screwed up between us the last few days, but the thing with Mai… you understand why I was… you don't think—"

"That you would betray not only me but your best friend in the world all in one fell swoop? I don't think so." She couldn't help but give him a dry smirk; he almost seemed like the old Yugi. "I mean, at first I… but, no."

He gave a jerky nod of his head. "Okay. Because I wouldn't. Not even…." He looked down, unable to finish.

She bit her lip. "I know."

He looked back up at her again and the discomfort was different now, more Atem's impatient I-don't-want-to-deal-with-this than Yugi's mortified self-consciousness. "And whatever problems we do have, I don't want to add to them with something that isn't real."

She nodded, aching as Yugi—_her_ Yugi—slipped away again, and when he got up and turned to leave, she felt all her fears and guilt and self-loathing spilling out into the one question she needed answered. "Do you love me?"

He stopped short and stood completely motionless, not even looking back at her. "How can you ask that?" His voice thick and gravelly. "Especially now? You know I'm not… I can't…."

She closed her eyes, fighting back tears. "That's exactly _why_ I have to ask now, except… I guess I already know the answer. I did a lot of thinking today, Yugi, and I figured some things out. You were right. I've been so caught up in not having to choose between the two parts of you that _I _loved, that it never occurred to me that one of those parts doesn't love _me_. Never has and never will. And—" She looked up at his back. "And the part of you that does love me I don't deserve."

He turned around then, pain deep in his eyes. "What?"

"You were right." The tears spilled over and trickling down her cheeks. "I've been avoiding making a choice because I didn't want to. I love that you're both of you all rolled into one, and I never stopped to think how you felt, how maybe that made you feel like you weren't good enough just being _Yugi_. Look at my birthday gift to you." She nodded toward the silver cartouche he wore around his neck. "It was supposed to be for _Yugi_, but it was from _his_ world. I—" She stopped, trying to figure out how to explain herself. "Have you ever read any American comic books?"

He looked startled by her apparent veering off topic. "American comic books?"

"Just… bear with me, okay? I had kind of an epiphany today, and the only way I know how to explain it is to compare it to American superheroes. You know, Spider-Man, Superman? You know the basic stories, right?"

Still looking baffled, he crossed his arms and leaned against the back of one of the chairs. "I guess. Grandpa had some American comics at the store."

"My friend Josh in New York, he was a huge comic book collector, and he once said something like 'I know girls totally don't get comics,' and you know how well something like that would go over with me. So I borrowed a bunch and read them. Superman and Spider-Man mostly. And the whole dual-identity thing really intrigued me, too. It was just the opposite of you—one person trying to be two different people instead of two different people trying to be one." She wiped her eyes, smiling as she remembered the secret thrill she got comparing the comic book tales to her own high school adventures. "I liked Spider-Man a lot. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of you, and I liked to think I was a lot like Mary Jane Watson, always there for him, loving him for Peter Parker, but accepting who he was and what he needed to do. And in the movie, they were even sorta childhood friends."

She sighed. "Then there was Superman, which I didn't like at all, 'cause I couldn't _stand_ Lois Lane. She just made me wanna slap her. But as it turns out, I'm not like Mary Jane at all. I'm really Lois Lane."

His brow furrowed. "Uh… I'm not sure I'm following you."

"The reason I always hated Lois is because of how she treats Clark Kent. In the movies, she keeps blowing off him off 'cause she thinks he's weak and pathetic until all of a sudden she finds out that he's really Superman, and _then_ she decides she loves him. He gives up all his powers for her, and only after that part of him is gone do they both realize that that's the part she really loved. She never ever once made _Clark_ feel important just because he was _Clark_. It was always about _Superman_."

The confusion on Yugi's face slowly began to clear, replaced by a troubled expression, but he said nothing, waiting instead for her to continue. There was a bitter taste in her mouth, like bile, and she pressed her lips together, not wanting to go on, but she knew she had to. She shook her head in self-reproach. "I've known you for ten years, Yugi. We weren't as close as we should've been for all those ten years because I never really _saw_ you. I never _noticed_ you, not until _he_ came along, and then I was such a stupid lovesick schoolgirl. My only defense is that I was fifteen and stupid and had stupid fifteen-year-old ideas about romance and what it meant to be a hero. Except… I'm not fifteen anymore and I should know better now. I know what a real hero is now, but I got so caught up in you being both of you that I never let you feel like _Yugi_ was good enough. And just like stupid Lois Lane, it takes losing half of you—_again_—for me to really get it."

She looked at him, suddenly realizing that she wasn't exactly sure who she was really talking to, and she felt sick again, the tears spilling out once more. "Oh, God, Yugi, I know you don't know which side of you you are, that you don't remember Yugi's memories and you feel like Atem, but please, I need you to be _Yugi_. What I have to say, I need _Yugi_ to hear, please?" As if he had a choice.

He looked stricken. "That's what I want."

She nodded; it had to be enough. "If you're looking for me to tell you that I only love one side or the other, that when you're dueling or being all cocky and brash and pharaoh-y that I don't love you, that I only love you when you're quiet and reserved, I can't do it. But even so, I _did_ make a choice. I made it in California when the Orichalcos took your soul, and I made it again when you first realized you had Atem's memories and we thought you were him. And I'm making it again now. 'Cause as hard as the Ceremonial Duel was, as hard as it was to say good-bye to Atem, I knew in the end it would be okay. But when _you_ were gone… when Yugi's gone…" She choked. "Nothing is right without Yugi. I just want you _back_. But I let you think that he mattered more than you did. I let you… oh, God." She sobbed into her hands, unable to continue.

"Téa…."

She tried to even out her breathing, to get to the point where she could speak. It took a moment, but she finally managed to get some control back of her voice. "I am so sorry for ever letting you doubt what you mean to me. Just Yugi, without _him_. I hate myself for it, I really do. I don't deserve you—Yugi—loving me like you do, like I'm perfect when I've been so unfair to you. And worse, even knowing that doesn't make the problem go away. Whether we want it to be or not, you were right. There are three of us, and that isn't ever going to change, even if— Even _when_ we get Atem back to the spirit world. I can't change the fact that I had a crush on him first, and I can't stop loving you when you're him, even if that's not the part I can't live without, because I can't love only half of you. God help me, Yugi, even now, even when I want _Yugi_ back so much I wanna scream, I still love you, and I don't know if you can live with that. And… half of you will never love me, and I… I don't know if _I _can live with that. So I'm not really sure where that leaves us."

They were silent for a long time, neither one able to meet the other's eyes. After a long while, Téa got up slowly from her seat. "Well, that was all I wanted to say. I'm sorry, Yugi. I know we've got more important stuff going on, but… I dunno. I wanted you to know how sorry I am." She walked away from him, heading toward her apartment on the west side of the building.

"You're wrong," he said so quietly she almost missed it.

She stopped and turned. He hadn't moved; he was still leaning against the back of the chair looking down at the floor.

"What did you say?"

He still didn't look up at her. "You're wrong. About half of me not loving you. It's not the _same_, exactly, but… well, you're wrong." And then he turned and walked away toward his apartment without looking back.

* * *

Despite his exhaustion from the Dark Game with Mai, Yugi lay awake in bed for a long time, staring at the ceiling, his hands interlocked behind his head. He wasn't sure which troubled him more—what Téa had said to him, or what he'd said to her. The whole thing was a mess, and the more they tried to untangle it, the more tangled it became. It should have been so simple—lifelong friends fall in love and live happily ever after, the end. The story was never meant to include a body-sharing ancient spirit, someone both of them would love and who would love both of them.

But it did include him, and he could no longer pretend it didn't, or that the feelings that made the whole thing so untenable weren't there.

Giving up on even trying to sleep, and wanting to distract himself from thinking about it any longer, he got up out of bed and sat at his desk intending to turn on his computer and play a game. But as he reached down under his desk to turn the hard drive on, his eyes fell on the velvet bag Ishizu had given him for _Oshogatsu_. Atem's things. _My things_, he tried not to think, but thought it anyway. He'd left the bag here on the floor beside his desk, unopened, when he'd unpacked after returning from Egypt. He hadn't wanted to open it or take out Atem's things and display them, because he was afraid if he looked at them he'd remember them, and if he could remember Atem's childhood in ancient Egypt…

But now he reached over and opened the bag, removing the jewelry box, the Kohl jar, the pottery and other household items, and the toys that Ishizu had given him. He picked up the little wooden crocodile, examining its moving jaws, trying to envision Atem as a child playing with it, perhaps using it the way a modern-day child would use an action figure to fight imaginary battles, maybe with his friends Mahad and Mana. While he could picture the scene, it didn't feel like a memory, and he wasn't sure whether that brought him comfort or made him sad. He didn't want to remember Atem's childhood, not really, but after fighting for three years to regain those very memories, he didn't want them lost again, either. _I want those memories. I just don't want them to belong to_ me.

He put down the crocodile and picked up the top. It seemed like a simpler toy than the crocodile—just a small sandstone disk painted with a black and white pattern and fitted onto a stick. But its simplicity was deceptive. He spun the top on his desk and the black and white images blended together, flickering like some sort of ancient animation. He couldn't remember Yugi's childhood any more than he could remember Atem's, but he knew a toy like this would've fascinated him. He could see a very young Yugi spending hours watching the top, trying to dissect it in his mind and puzzle out exactly how the spinning made the images seem to move like that.

After watching the top for a few spins, he set that aside as well and opened the jewelry box next, picking up the necklace that Ishizu said had probably been a betrothal gift from Atem's father to his mother. But then he remembered that Téa had admired it, and he found himself thinking about her again as he fingered the beads. Thinking of her through Atem's eyes.

Ever since finding that he was able to somehow remember from both points of view the three years that the two halves of his soul existed together as separate spirits in the same body, he'd made a conscious decision to not consider Téa—or any of his friends, really, but especially Téa—through Atem's eyes. To the Yugi side of him, it felt like prying into something private that was none of his business. To the Atem side, it felt like betrayal to think about the girl his _aibou_ had always loved. Mostly, he just didn't want to know.

But now, with Yugi's memories stripped away, the only way he _could_ see Téa or any of his friends was through Atem's eyes, and the feelings there scared him for more reasons than he cared to admit. So he pushed away the raw emotion, the strategist's mind that was Atem's and the scholar's mind that was Yugi's turning it over and examining it from a distance the way an archaeologist would examine this necklace, analyzing the differences between how his two halves viewed the world and the people they both loved.

Yugi saw the world through a filter that bathed everything in the best possible light. His enemies were merely misguided, strangers were all well-intentioned, and his friends were without flaw of any kind, particularly Joey and Téa, both of whom he idolized as strong, courageous, and unflaggingly loyal.

Atem, on the other hand, took a more cynical view of the world. He was no less devoted to people he counted as friends, but that title was not easily earned. Allies and adversaries alike were regarded with an analytical eye; strengths and weaknesses were noted and filed away for future reference, and flaws were never overlooked, not even in friends as close to him as Joey or Téa. That he'd eventually come to love them both could not be disputed, but that love had been much harder won. It was ironic that from Atem's perspective, the only person who deserved anything close to the reverence Yugi bestowed so freely on others was Yugi himself, and the depth of the love he felt nearly took his breath away, regardless from whose perspective he was seeing it.

Because of what Yugi meant to him, Atem had rather intentionally kept Téa in particular at a distance. Yugi had been hopelessly infatuated with her since long before Atem entered the picture, so Atem had tried to encourage him to be bold and take some initiative, but when Téa developed a crush on Atem instead, Yugi had then turned around and tried to push _them_ together. Atem's devotion to Yugi was too strong for him to do anything other than recoil at the very idea, and so it went, their strange triangle preventing either one of them from ever getting too close to her.

And yet… she was the one who'd been at Atem's side when he'd first learned he was the spirit of an ancient pharaoh. She was the one who'd kept him grounded and from sinking too far into depression when he'd lost the Orichalcos duel and Yugi's soul along with it. She was the one who'd stopped him when he'd gone too far in his duel with Weevil Underwood and there was no Yugi to keep the darkness in check. She had become important to him in a way that was very different than what his other friends meant to him, but it wasn't exactly the same as how Yugi felt about her, either. There wasn't Yugi's passion and adoration, but neither was there the kind of platonic love he had for Joey or any of the others. What he felt for her defied definition or categorization. It just _was_. And he didn't know what that meant, or how the three of them were supposed to fit together into the puzzle that was their relationship.

He thought of Ishizu's assertion that Atem had formed a rift in their souls by sealing himself into the Millennium Pyramid, fracturing both Pyramid and soul into pieces of a Puzzle that later had to be reassembled. She'd claimed that the Ceremonial Battle had healed the rift, making whole what had once been fractured, but he'd never really felt whole over the last three years. Complete, yes, but that was different than _whole_. Whole implied something solid, not something that was segmented, and even as he'd learned to assimilate the memories from both his halves, he'd never really felt like they formed something seamless any more than the Puzzle itself was seamless. He could be both of them, Atem and Yugi, but it was like putting on different coats. _This_ came from Atem. _That_ from Yugi. He somehow doubted that would ever change, that he'd ever really feel whole and not divided into parts, and trying to fit Téa into that picture only made things murkier.

So what was the point of the Ceremonial Battle? It was supposed to have set Atem free, and set Yugi free, too, and make them both whole. But it hadn't really done any of that, at least not for Yugi, still living in a sort of limbo where he wasn't really with Atem and wasn't really apart from him, either. It was frustrating from both sides—for Yugi because he couldn't ever seem to really get on with his life, and for Atem because he'd been the one to blame in the first place. He'd told Ishizu that he would never doom the world, implying that he'd sacrifice his other self to save it, and apparently that's exactly what he'd done. He'd sacrificed the one person that mattered most, thousands of years before that person had even been given a life and choice of his own.

With that thought weighing on him, he returned to his bed, taking the necklace, the top, and the crocodile with him and laying them on the nightstand. But it was a long time before he was able to sleep.


	26. No Relationship

**26. No Relationship**

"You're still here?"

Kaiba looked up from his morning newspaper and turned to look over his shoulder to where Mokuba was standing at the edge of the dining room. "I live here," he said, folding the paper and putting it aside.

"Well, duh." Mokuba slid into the chair across from him. The maid had already come and gone, so the remains of their dinner that Kaiba and Sara had never finished cleaning up were gone, and a spread of croissants, muffins, and fruit was laid out on the table. Mokuba helped himself to a muffin, rolling his eyes as he took a bite. "But you don't usually hang around for breakfast, especially if a girl has spent the night. Does this mean you actually like her?"

"Mokuba!" Kaiba intended that to be the end of that conversation, but Mokuba had other ideas.

"'Cause _I _like her. She's not all swoony like the fangirls, or empty-headed like the models, and she doesn't seem like she'd take a lot of crap, but she's into you anyway. You two make a great couple."

He scowled. "We are not a couple. She's a colleague of Yugi Mutou's and I've agreed to help them—for my own reasons," he added when Mokuba opened his mouth to say something. "There's nothing more to it then that, so don't start making relationships out of air."

Mokuba cocked his head and gave him a skeptical look. "She spent the night _twice_. Let me think now, when was the last time you saw a girl more than once? Oh yeah, that would be _never_."

"Mokuba, this is none of your business."

"I told you before, you're my brother. It's nice to see you with someone. And sorta almost, you know, _happy_."

"And I told you before, my life is just fine the way it is. I have no intention of getting involved with anyone, especially not someone who is Yugi Mutou's colleague and whose life work involves ancient Egypt. End of subject."

"Then why are you still here waiting for her instead of already at work? You've never done that before, either."

Kaiba let out a huff of air in annoyance. "If you must know, I was waiting for you."

Mokuba arched his eyebrows as he leaned back in his chair. "You don't eat breakfast with me, either."

"I need to talk to you," Kaiba said, telling himself there was no accusation in Mokuba's assertion, just a mere statement of facts. "You spent the day over at Illusions Tower yesterday, didn't you?"

Mokuba slumped. "Oh boy, here it comes. I like hanging out with them, and I wanted to help get the other Yugi and the other Seto back. And I'm _bored_. School doesn't start until next week, and the tutors don't get back until the end of the month."

"I'm not complaining that you were there, I just want to know something. Sara mentioned that there was some tension between Yugi and Téa."

"Oh, man." Mokuba's head bobbed up and down as he took another bite of his muffin. "It was weird. Normally Téa's like the house mom—you know, making sure everyone else is getting along—but she wouldn't even come out and hang with us in the library or the common room. She just stayed in her room all day, and when she did come out, it was just weird. She only stayed for like two minutes, and she wouldn't even look at Yugi. And Yugi was all moody and sullen, too. I was gonna ask what was up, but everyone was all weird and uncomfortable, so I figured I'd better just keep my mouth shut."

"So everyone was acting strangely? And you didn't think to mention this yesterday?"

Mokuba frowned. "Since when do you care? They're bound to be upset over what happened to the other Yugi's tomb, and you didn't even care enough to bother to go to Egypt with them, so I don't see why you'd care now."

"I _don't_ care," Kaiba corrected him. "And I certainly didn't feel it necessary to go back on my obligation to the organizers of the British Open tournament just to see a couple of dead pharaohs' vandalized tombs, but that doesn't mean I'm not paying attention. Considering that the person who sank our ship last May and who most likely is responsible for the two tomb desecrations specializes in controlling people, it seems worth noting if Yugi and his little sidekicks are acting out of character, don't you think?"

Mokuba's eyes widened. "You think there's something weird going on, like on the island?"

"Have you ever known Yugi to not get along with any of his friends under any other circumstances?"

"No."

"This Ramesses character is dangerous, and considering Yugi has a guest staying there—"

"So that's what this is about." Mokuba flashed him a Cheshire grin. "You're worried about Sara! I knew you liked her!"

Kaiba glowered. "You're jumping to conclusions, Mokuba. I told you, don't make relationships out of air. She's going back to Cairo in a few days and that will be the end of it."

"It doesn't have to be. You could totally do the long-distance relationship thing, fly out to see her whenever you wanted to—"

"I _don't_ want to. There is no relationship, Mokuba, so just drop it."

"Seto, I—" Mokuba stopped abruptly, his gaze falling somewhere beyond Kaiba.

Turning to look over his shoulder, Kaiba saw Sara standing in the hallway just outside the dining room. She was already dressed in her clothes from last night and was looking at the two of them apprehensively. Kaiba clenched his jaw, wondering how much she'd overheard, but Mokuba smoothly sailed into a cheerful greeting. "Morning, Sara. Want some croissants or muffins? I can get some black tea for you."

"No, thank you. That's quite all right." Sara gave Mokuba a small smile, then looked at Kaiba. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"I live here," Kaiba said blandly, turning back around. If she'd overheard, there was nothing to be done about it now. And it's not like he'd said anything different than what they had mutually agreed upon anyway, so there was no reason for him to feel uneasy, none whatsoever….

"Well, of course." Sara sat down at the edge of a chair at the end of the table between the two brothers. "I just expected you to be at work. You seem rather the workaholic type."

"Hm." He looked her. "Actually, I was planning on going over to Illusions Tower with you this morning to have a little chat with the dork squad. Between what you and Mokuba have told me about Yugi's behavior lately, I think it might be a good idea for you to come and stay here instead until you go back to Cairo."

As if they had rehearsed it beforehand, Sara's and Mokuba's jaws dropped in unison. Mokuba recovered first, a smile of victory spreading across his face.

Sara's expression remained perplexed. "Excuse me?"

"It's never a good sign when Yugi or his sidekicks aren't acting like themselves. I think it might be better if you stayed here," Kaiba said very matter-of-factly.

Sara gaped at him a moment longer, then turned to Mokuba. "Would you excuse us a moment, Mokuba? I'd like to speak with your brother."

"Sure." Grinning like a lunatic, he scooped up three more muffins then shuffled out of the dining room.

"Is there a problem?" Kaiba asked, impassive.

"Is there a problem?" She stared at him. "I'd like to know how we got from 'there is no relationship' to me moving in with you?"

So she had heard at least some of his conversation with Mokuba. He gave her a blank look. "Who said anything about moving in with me? You'll be here only a few more days, right?"

"That's not the point, and you know it."

"The invitation wasn't intended to be a proposition. We do have a guest suite."

"Well, of course, seeing as you entertain so frequently," she said dryly.

He folded his arms. "Hm. Do you realize you attack me every time you feel uncomfortable with yourself? What exactly is the problem? That you _want_ to stay here?"

She flushed, her face hardening into an angry glare. "I should think it would be rather obvious what the problem is. In the less than forty-eight hours since we've met, we've slept together twice—and that's only if you're counting each night instead of each _time_—despite both agreeing that it was a mistake. So now, instead of doing the smart thing and realizing that for some reason we have an unhealthy attraction to each other and would be better off not spending so much time together, you're proposing I _move in_ for the duration of my stay in San Francisco? I don't even know you!"

"Do you know Yugi and his friends any better?"

"No, but I haven't shagged any of them!"

"Well, good. You have standards, then."

She seethed. "Apparently not."

He sighed; this was going in the wrong direction. "That was not an insult directed at you, Sara, and whatever we've done and whether or not it's a good idea to do it again are irrelevant. I don't know if Yugi bothered to warn you about what you were getting yourself into before he dragged you halfway around the world to help him, but the fact is, that the nutjob who vandalized the tombs is almost certainly the same person who sunk an entire cruise ship just to get at me and Yugi. This guy is completely psychotic. Calls himself 'Ramesses' and thinks he's the reincarnation of one of the ancient Ramesses. Now, as much as I'm not one to give a lot of credence to all the mystical magical mumbo-jumbo Yugi and his groupies like to babble on about, I can't deny that somehow this bastard manages to worm his way in and control people, make them act in ways that are out of character. So when I hear that Yugi and Téa and who knows who else over there are not acting like themselves, I can't help but think that's not a good thing. Whether his methods are magical, technological or… hell, pharmaceutical for all I know, it makes little difference. He's _dangerous_. Mokuba almost _died_ on that island, and Téa did, too. Frankly, I'm not interested in you being next over something you don't even need to be involved in, so I think it would be a good idea for me to find out what the hell is going on over there and for you to stay somewhere else. If not here, then I'll put you up at the Four Seasons. But I don't think you should stay there."

Most of her anger drained away and she looked at him as if trying to puzzle him out. "You're actually concerned about me."

"Contrary to popular opinion, I am not completely made of ice."

She blanched at that, and he wondered what about that statement would trigger such a strong response.

"I… no, I never thought you were," she said, faltering. "Yugi did tell me that if we ended up finding a ritual that involved the Millennium Items—those were sort of talismans the pharaoh and his—"

"I know what the Millennium Items are."

"You really do know quite a lot about ancient Egypt for someone who claims antipathy for the subject."

"Believe me, it was not intentional."

"Well, anyway, Yugi did say they were dangerous. Although he mentioned dark magic and evil spirits and other rubbish, so I didn't put much stock in it."

Kaiba scoffed. "Everything in his world is explained by magic and evil spirits. But the danger is real, and it has nothing to do with the Millennium Items."

She considered this. "But why is it more dangerous there than here? If this bloke is really able to somehow make people behave in ways that are out-of-character, couldn't that explain, well, the way the two of us have been behaving? We both agreed we're not acting like ourselves."

"I thought about that," he admitted. "But I don't see what the point would be. This isn't exactly his usual MO. He likes to separate people, make them attack each other indiscriminately. That's why I don't like what I'm hearing over about what's going on over at Illusions Tower. He operates in anger and violence and hate and this—" He indicated the two of them with a hand motion. "Whatever this is, is… heated, maybe, but not angry or violent. I doubt Ramesses is to blame, however unusual this… attraction is between us." It was an uncomfortable thing to say, as close as he cared to come to admitting there was any aspect of his life, especially his own emotions, that was not completely under his control.

She looked similarly disquieted. "I don't suppose it's the worst thing in the world. We're adults. We're unattached—or at least I'm assuming there's no Mrs. Kaiba or heiress fiancée hidden away somewhere."

Kaiba snorted. "Not hardly."

"Well, then, this… whatever it is, it might be rather irrational, perhaps, but it isn't really _bad_. And in a few more days, I'll return to Cairo and that will be that, right?"

"Exactly. So does that mean you'll stay here?"

"In the guest room?"

"Of course."

She hesitated before relenting. "I suppose it would make sense if I'm to be working with you."

"Good."

He met her eye and she flushed a little. He felt warm himself, suddenly, and he had the feeling that whatever their intentions, it wasn't likely that she would end up in the guest room.


	27. Almost Normal

**27. Almost Normal**

Tristan felt something moving across his chest and opened his eyes to find Serenity bending over him, pulling a blanket up under his chin. When she saw that he was awake, she straightened. "Oops, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"What time is it?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.

"Almost seven." She sat down on the coffee table beside the couch where he was lying. "You didn't have to stay here all night."

"Of course I did. Although I was supposed to be waking you up." He ducked his head, feeling guilty. He must've forgotten to set his watch alarm after waking her the first time.

"No, it's fine. I'm okay. I'm worried about Mai, though. It must've been bad if Joey actually left another guy alone in my apartment with me." She rolled her eyes. "Any idea what happened?"

"She's fine. Téa came by last night. She'd heard you'd gotten hurt and wanted to see how you were, and she filled me in. I guess Mai and Yugi ended up in some sort of Shadow Game that was a repeat of her Orichalcos duel against Joey. Yugi was Dark Magician."

Serenity's eyes were wide and worried, but she wrinkled her nose in confusion. "What?"

"Yeah, I'm not to clear on the details myself, but the important thing is that Mai won, and she and Yugi are both fine."

"How did Téa get involved?"

Tristan shrugged. "I'm not really sure on that, either. I have a feeling we'll hear all the details as soon as everyone's up." He swung his legs over the side of the couch, the blanket Serenity had been covering him with slipping to the floor. "I should go downstairs and make breakfast."

"Wait." Serenity put her hand on his arm. He looked at her and she pulled it away as if embarrassed. "I… thank you, Tristan. You're a good friend, you know that? Better than I deserve."

He sighed. "That's not true. I told you, whatever happens, we'll always be friends."

She looked down, her hair hanging around her face. "I know. I just feel bad for dumping all that on you. I had no right—"

"Don't worry about it." He tried to smile, hoping it didn't come off as a grimace. He really didn't want to talk about it anymore. If she wasn't willing to be more than friends, the sooner he stopped thinking about all the _what-ifs _and_ could've-beens_, the better.

A knock on the door interrupted them before she could say anything more, and he was grateful for the distraction as she got up to answer it.

It was Yugi. "I hope I didn't wake you, but I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine. A slight concussion, I think, but I'm feeling okay. And Mai's okay, too?"

"Yeah, she's fine. I'm sorry I didn't come by last night to let you know."

"That's okay. Tristan said Téa came by last night to fill us in."

"Oh." Yugi looked a little embarrassed, but Tristan thought it was an odd sort of embarrassed, not like his usual sheepishness. He apologized again. "I'm sorry, I should've come myself, but I was so tired after Mai's Dark Game, it just slipped my mind. I'm glad Téa thought to tell you."

"So, we gonna get a full update?" Tristan asked, coming to the door beside Serenity. "From what little Téa told me, it sounds like a whole new kind of Shadow Game. Using someone's dreams of a past duel?"

"Yeah, this is definitely a new one, although Dark Games can take infinite forms. I think we should all meet downstairs in like half an hour. I already called Duke, and he said he could be here by 7:30."

"Sounds good. Want me to make some food?"

"No, you've cooked every morning since we've been back. I'll scrounge up some food."

"You sure? I don't mind."

"No, take your time, grab a shower or something if you want. I'll see you both in the common room at 7:30."

"Okay." Serenity shut the door behind him as he left.

Tristan turned to her. "All right, if you're okay, I'll just go back to my room and shower and I'll see you in a bit?"

"Yeah, sounds good. And thanks again, Tristan."

He nodded as he walked out the door, fighting back the urge to say something more.

* * *

After leaving Serenity's suite, Yugi stopped at Téa's door. As awkward as it still felt to be around her with everything being as it was at the moment, he'd resolved to make an effort to reach out to her. It wasn't her fault that he was uncomfortable in his own skin and uncomfortable with her because of it, and her friendship meant too much to both sides of him to keep her on the periphery for long. He stood in front of her door a moment, his hands in his pockets curled around the necklace, the top, and the crocodile that he'd grabbed from the nightstand when he'd gotten dressed. Taking a breath to fortify himself, he pulled his hands out and knocked. She took a moment answering; Tristan had already left Serenity's and disappeared into his own apartment in the other direction when Téa finally opened the door.

"Sorry if I woke you," he said, trying for a smile he wasn't quite sure he achieved. "I wanted to let you know that we're gonna all meet in the common room at 7:30 to hash out what happened last night and figure out where to go from here."

"Okay." She didn't quite meet his eye. "Do the others all know?"

"Yeah. I called Duke and checked in on Mai and Joey and Serenity and Tristan just now."

"How's Mai?"

"She's good. Seems more her old self this morning."

Téa nodded. "Okay, I'll be down in a bit."

"You might wanna wake Sara up, too. I don't know if she'll believe any of this, but she should hear what's going on if she's going to stay here. I hate for her to get dragged into all this."

"Uh…" Téa looked hesitant. "Actually, she's not here. She didn't come home again last night."

Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Two nights in a row? Is it just me, or do you find it a little odd for Kaiba to be so gung-ho all of a sudden?"

Téa gave him an odd smirk. "Wonder what exactly he's gung-ho about?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind." She waved it away with her hand, but Yugi was happy to see her look something other than miserable for the first time in days. And she was actually looking him in the eye again, which was a definite improvement, even if it made him a little uneasy.

"Well, I promised Tristan I'd scrounge up some food so he wouldn't feel it necessary to cook again. He's going to start feeling like our personal chef otherwise."

Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "You're not going to attempt to cook, are you?"

"I think I can manage… toast."

She shook her head. "Give me a sec and I'll come down and help."

She retreated into her apartment and he waited outside until she returned a few minutes later, fully dressed. They went downstairs to the kitchen where she rooted around the refrigerator while he went looking for cereal. There was some leftover miso soup and rice from a couple days ago, and she had Yugi heat that up in the microwave while she threw some vegetables and eggs together to make some okonomiyaki, or egg-based pancakes, which was Tristan's favorite dish. They worked together in companionable silence, setting out the food on the island. After putting some water on to boil for green tea, Yugi turned to find Téa looking at him wistfully.

Feeling self-conscious, he crossed his arms and leaned against one of the stools. "What?"

"Do you think Mai winning that Dark Game might have, I dunno, sorta lightened things up around here? Like maybe she beat back the shadows a little?"

He shrugged. "I suppose. Why?"

"It's just… spending time like this, just doing something simple like putting together breakfast, it's nice. It almost feels normal again."

He felt a twinge of guilt, but whether it was over how he'd been treating her the last few days or the confusion over his own feelings, he wasn't sure. "Listen, I… I'm sorry I've been a jerk lately. You aren't to blame for any of this. I just want things to go back to the way they were."

Her wistful expression turned more melancholic. "I do, too, but I'm not sure if that's really possible anymore."

He looked down, the tile floor offering refuge from eyes he couldn't quite meet anymore. "No, probably not."

She put her hand on his arm. He flinched, but didn't pull away, and she didn't move any closer. "Let's just put all that aside, okay? The only thing that really matters to me is getting… getting _him_ back home and stopping these Dark Games. The rest we can figure out later."

* * *

The meeting started over breakfast in the common room with Mai and Yugi detailing Mai's strange dream-turned-Dark Game. Yugi was glad to see that Mai definitely seemed much more her old self again, brash and bold and more than a little pissed about being dragged into a Shadow Game in the manner in which she had. Joey looked murderous, ready to find Ramesses and pummel him into the dirt as he alternately hovered over Mai and Serenity. Duke and Tristan both looked ready for action of any sort, and Serenity, like Téa, seemed to be a little less self-abasing than yesterday. It made Yugi wonder if maybe Téa wasn't right, that Mai's defeat of Ramesses—or his proxy anyway—in a Shadow Game had somehow lightened the oppressive air that had developed since their return from overseas. He even felt a little more connected to his other half, not quite to the point of feeling normal or even being able to directly access memories and feelings that belonged to Yugi, but at least not quite as shut off from that part of himself, either.

After detailing the Shadow Game, they discussed the other developments of the day, including the strange way they seemed to have been "locked out" of the Shadow Realm and access to their monsters, Yugi's ability to get around that somehow, Joey and Mai's trip to Los Angeles to see Rafael, and Marik Ishtar's arrival in two days. They were just getting around to discussing how best to locate and question Valon about his presence in Battle City when the elevator door slid open, and Sara walked into the room. Behind her, much to Yugi's surprise, was Kaiba.

Joey was even more astonished than Yugi. "Is that _Seto Kaiba_? Gracing our home with his glorious presence? How did we become worthy of such an honor?"

"Don't let it go to your head, Wheeler. I didn't come her to see you. I came to see Yugi."

"About?" Yugi raised his eyebrow, still a little taken aback. In the four months they'd lived in San Francisco, Kaiba had never once visited them or even deliberately put himself in their path.

Before he could answer, Sara cut him off. "No, first I have to speak with you. In private."

He frowned. "Is something wrong?"

She folded her arms. "I'm not sure. I need you to tell me."

His eyes narrowed. "What is this about?"

"It's about Atem."

He exchanged glances with Joey, Tristan, and Téa before turning back to Sara. "There's nothing about Atem you can't discuss in front of the others."

"I'd rather speak with you alone," she said, her expression resolute. "Please. It will only take a moment."

Frowning, he relented with a nod and got up from his seat, motioning in the direction of the offices on the other side of the common room. "Would you like to speak in my office, then?"

"That would be fine."

He looked back at his friends. "I guess I'll be right back."

Kaiba took a step further into the room. "In the meantime, one of your little groupies here can fill me in on what the hell is going on around here."

Yugi's eyes widened. Usually they had to force Kaiba to listen to them when something weird was going on, but now he was seeking information from them? But he simply nodded again. "Yes, that's a good idea." Then he and Sara then left the common room and went into his office. He invited her to sit, but she declined, leaning against the wall, her arms still folded.

"What did you need to talk about?'

"Atem's name. I want to know who discovered his name."


	28. Personal

**28. Personal**

Yugi frowned, a little apprehensive. "Atem's name?"

"Yes. You were there, weren't you? Was it really Ishizu Ishtar who discovered Atem's name? And I want the truth."

He sighed and leaned on the corner of his desk, crossing his legs. "No, it wasn't Ishizu. Kaiba told you, I take it?"

"Never mind what he told me. I want to hear it from you."

He sighed again, putting his hands into his pockets. "We found the name. Me, Joey, Téa, and Tristan. Uh… well, maybe not Tristan."

She shook her head as if not quite believing it even though it clearly had been the answer she'd been expecting. "You and your friends. You were, what, seventeen? How did you do it?"

He stopped, not sure how to answer that. It didn't help that he couldn't actually remember any of this; he just knew the details as if it were a story he'd been told. "We… needed to know, so we searched his tomb. We found a cartouche with the name on it."

Sara paced around the small office. "Just like that? You can't be serious! That tomb was riddled with traps—"

"I already told you, my grandfather had been there before. He told us how to get past the traps."

She stopped pacing and looked at him. "Okay, that's another thing. You were hardly the first people to ever set foot in that tomb. How is it possible you found a cartouche that everyone else somehow missed?"

In point of fact, they'd been in the tomb via Atem's memory, so in a manner of speaking they'd predated even his grandfather's 1960 visit by thousands of years. Instead of even attempting an explanation, however, he just shrugged.

Sara shook her head again, some of her white hair coming loose from its knot and hanging in her face. "All right, let's move past 'how' for a moment. Why is Ishizu is taking credit for it? This is appalling. She hoards texts, and now—"

"Wait a second!" Yugi threw up his hands to hold her off. "She did it as a favor to me."

"But _why_?"

"It was a closed tomb. We weren't exactly supposed to be there."

She glared at him. "So you hand off the credit for a find to Ishizu to not get in trouble? You do realize what happened, don't you? You were a high school student, and Ishizu is rather clever. She manipulated you into believing it was in your best interest—"

"She did not manipulate me." He rolled his eyes, his hands going back into his pockets. "I was young, yes, but not nearly as naïve as everyone seems to think. I don't want people to know because this has nothing to do with scholarship. In case you haven't noticed, this is _personal_ to me." His hand closed around the little wooden crocodile in his pocket. "_He's_ important to me, not his _history_. I don't want something that is deeply personal and private to be turned into an issue for scholars. I found the name for _him_, not for posterity." His intensity surprised even himself. That was _Yugi's_ emotion, not Atem's—

"Because you believe he _possessed_ you." It wasn't a question.

Yugi narrowed his eyes, glaring at the door over Sara's shoulder. "For someone who likes to pretends none of this ever happened, Kaiba sure is talking about it a lot."

"That one came from Mokuba," Sara said. "But it's true, isn't it?"

He sighed. "It's more complicated than that. You don't think it's coincidence that I look like the carving in that tablet in Giza, do you?"

She gave him a startled look, then blew out a huff of air. "That bloody tablet. I—" She stopped, shaking her head. "You're starkers, you know that?"

"I've been called worse."

Grunting in exasperation, she resumed her pacing. "Yugi, Atem never possessed you. He died thousands of years ago. If you discovered his name, it is an amazing accomplishment for a high school student, but it is nothing more than that."

"I never asked you to believe any of this."

"No, but you certainly didn't explain any of it before I dragged myself halfway around the world to help you."

He leveled a gaze at her. "Not in depth, no, because frankly, it isn't any of your business. But I did say he was too close to my heart for me to be dispassionate. You were in the room when I argued with Ishizu about how important it was for me to bring him back. I told you I once owned the Millennium Puzzle and warned you about the dark magic associated with the Millennium Items. Don't make out that I misled you into thinking this research was about _scholarship_. You _offered_ to come, over the objections of your own mentor." His brows furrowed as another thought came to him. "You made a discovery of your own, one we're also keeping quiet."

She gaped at him. "Oh come now, that is completely different! I discovered a crime, not an historical find! That was kept quiet for my safety!"

"I'm not questioning that. But how you came to discover it, how you came to be in Seto's tomb in the middle of the night—this isn't just about scholarship for you, either."

"Of course it is! This is what I do!"

He shook his head. "Back in Luxor you compared it to falling in love." He thought of his other self, and for this it was the same no matter which self was "other." "That's exactly how it is for me. I don't want what's personal to become a matter for scholars to debate. I'd rather leave that to Ishizu."

She studied him for a long moment, her expression troubled. "I don't know why I came here."

"Do you want to leave?"

She seemed to consider this. "No, I still want to help. I think your reasons are daft, but I still have my own reasons to do what we're doing here."

Yugi pushed away from the desk, pulling his hands out of his pockets. "Then let's concentrate on that."

Her eyes met his in a silent battle of wills. After a moment, she relented, but not by much. "Fine. But I'm not through with this, Yugi. I intend to discuss it with Ishizu when I get back."

He nodded as he held open the office door for her. "Do whatever you need to do."

When they returned to the common room, Kaiba looked up from where he was seated on the edge of the sofa. "It seems to me if you're having Shadow Games up in your bedrooms, it might not be the best time to have a houseguest."

Sara stopped in her tracks and looked down at the floor.

Yugi smirked at him. "I see you've been briefed. No denials that Shadow Games are real?"

"Shadow Games?" Sara asked. "Does that have something to do with what you call Duat? The 'Shadow Realm,' was it?"

"Don't ask for an explanation. It will only make the little runt pull out his soapbox, and I don't have the time to waste." Kaiba shifted his gaze from Sara to Yugi. "I don't care how Ramesses does it, but he does have a way to control the behavior of others, and with what I've been hearing from Mokuba and Sara, there's been a lot of strange behavior around here. Beyond even your usual level of weird, I mean. It just seems to me that this is not a good place for innocent bystanders."

"That's a good point," Duke said. "Maybe Sara should come stay at my place until she goes back to Cairo?"

Kaiba snorted. "Where would you have her sleep, in your closet?"

Duke glared at Kaiba. "My apartment may not be a penthouse in the Financial District, but it's not _that_ small."

"Actually, Duke, I was hoping Marik would stay with you when he gets here," Yugi said. "I think some distance between him and Mai would be a good idea, just to be safe."

"Marik?" Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "Why is that freak coming here?"

"He's going to try and help us figure out how Ramesses has been able to use Mai's nightmares against her. He is the one who started them, after all," Yugi said.

Kaiba nodded. "Well, we have guest suites at Kaiba Corp. She's welcome to stay there."

"Wait." Joey's mouth was agape. "You're… _inviting_ someone into the Kaiba Inner Sanctum? Since when are you willing to associate with, you know, people?" Téa, however, was looking between Kaiba and Sara with a curious expression while Sara continued to examine her shoes.

Kaiba glared at Joey, sniffing in disdain. "I don't have a problem with _people_, just morons and losers and posers."

Joey moved forward in his seat as if he were preparing to launch himself at Kaiba. "What's that supposed to mean, rich boy?"

Mai groaned and put a hand on Joey's shoulder. "Oh give it a rest, hon. Quit taking his bait."

"Well, come on, you don't think we should make Sara go stay at Kaiba Corp, do you? It's bad enough Yugi roped her into working with Kaiba, now she's gotta stay there too? How much do you think one person should be asked to take?"

"It's fine," Sara said quickly, looking somewhat discomfited.

Yugi frowned, trying to figure out what was making her uncomfortable. "Are you sure you don't mind? It's not that you aren't welcome. It's just that things have been pretty… wrong around here."

"I don't mind. It makes more sense, really, since I'm doing most of my work over there anyway. I just need to pack up my things, and perhaps take more of the Egyptian texts with me."

"I'll help you pack," Téa offered, somewhat eager.

Sara shook her head. "No, that's quite all right. I can manage."

"Oh, but I insist." Without waiting for Sara's consent, Téa got up from her seat and started toward the stairs. Sara followed reluctantly while Yugi finished updating Kaiba on everything else that had been going on.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "You dorks keep up with all the hocus-pocus. I'll stick to more real-life methods of figuring out who Ramesses is and how to stop him."

Before long, Sara and Téa returned with Sara's bags and another box of texts. Kaiba took the box, instructing Sara to leave her bag for one of his assistants to retrieve later, but Sara insisted on bringing it herself.

Kaiba shrugged as they headed for the elevator. "Suit yourself."

As soon as the elevator door closed behind them, Joey whistled. "Man. That poor girl. I can't believe we're doing this to her."

"I don't think she minds," Téa said. Her voice sounded like it was a balloon that had been over-inflated and was threatening to burst.

"Okay, you know something." Mai leaned forward with interest. "Spill."

Téa grinned at Mai. "She likes him."

Serenity squealed. "No way!"

"Well, that would certainly explain a lot," Duke said.

"Wait." Joey scratched his head. "She likes him who?"

Téa let out a hiss of air. "Him Kaiba, you moron. Who do you think?"

"Kaiba? She likes… no way!" Joey shuddered dramatically. "Who the hell can even _stand_ Kaiba, let alone actually _like_ him?"

"I think I'm with Joey," Tristan said. "That's just _wrong_."

"He's rich and he's hot. What's not to like?" Mai asked.

Joey glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Josesph, that he's rich and he's hot." Mai leaned back and crossed her arms. "Which part of that is hard to understand?"

"The part where you're talking about _Kaiba_!"

"Well, yeah, but the richness and the hotness can make up for a lot."

Joey launched into a tirade, but Mai merely rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up, would you? I wanna know more about Sara and Kaiba."

"Yeah, Joey, shut up. I wanna hear this, too," Serenity said.

Yugi tapped his foot on the floor, his arms crossed. "We've got more important things to talk about. Joey, you and Mai are going to track down Valon, remember? Téa and I will keep looking for a way to bring the other me back. Serenity, Tristan, and Duke, I'd like you to do some research on the Shadow Realm. Pegasus has a lot of weird books in his library that might help us figure out how we were locked out and see if there's a way around it."

"How did _you_ get around it?" Duke asked.

"I think it's because I used to own the Millennium Puzzle. But we have to find a way for all of us to get past the barriers. We can't afford to be handicapped by not being able to summon our monsters if Ramesses brings another shadow war to us." He looked around the room. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired of playing defense. Let's find some answers and bring the fight to him."

* * *

_To be continued in Part III: Main Phase…_


End file.
